How can you use mindfulness to identify emotions, accept emotions and start to learn how best to nourish/ practice self care? Emotions and how we are able to cope with emotions are tied directly into eating for emotional reasons. While trying to understand your own pattern of emotional eating, it can be helpful to take a step back and observe how you identify and feel emotions within your own body/life.
Here are some different exercises you can try to be more mindful of your emotions:
For a few days or maybe a week before you start just observe your emotions.
Observe what types of emotions you feel during the day and how your emotions change with environment, people, circumstances, hormone shifts, work demands, etc.
Do some emotions feel good and others feel negative?
If you do eat as a result of emotions are there some emotions that drive this action more than others?
Do you feel:
Anger
Sadness
Fearful
Surprised
Shame
Disgusted
And during these moments of feeling this emotion have you ever asked yourself, WHAT DO I NEED RIGHT NOW? What would be ideal in this moment while I am feeling this emotion? If you have not asked yourself this question you might be giving yourself something but it might not be the right something for you.
If your needs are being met, do you think you would turn to food when feeling these emotions?
Once you have observed and are more aware of which emotions you are feeling you can start to develop coping strategies that best match your emotional state.
