I was listening to a podcast yesterday and the guest, Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, told a story about how her daughter was getting ready for a competition in karate and her sensei, rather than telling her to not be afraid, told her to get her butterflies flying in formation.
I really loved that idea — that instead of trying to resist or push away the emotions she was feeling, she could channel them and use them to her advantage.
I think this is something we can all do — learn to embrace, allow, and utilize our emotions to help us perform and experience the world and our lives in a true, authentic way.
(If you want to listen to that podcast, I’d recommend it. It’s quite long, so if you don’t want to listen to the whole thing, just listen to the last 40 min or so — totally worth it! It’s The Huberman Lab podcast with Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett about understanding emotions: https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/dr-lisa-feldman-barrett-how-to-understand-emotions)
Love,
Bethany