Should we be afraid of our emotions?

How we respond to emotions is usually what leads to difficulties, not the emotion itself. So learning to regulate emotion means being able to control how you respond to emotions. Mindfulness is a really helpful skill that can help with learning how to regulate emotions. This allows us the chance to pause and choose how to respond¸ rather than react.

Mindfulness involves focussing your attention, purposely, on the present moment, observing thoughts, feelings and body signals without judgement. 

Mindfulness requires a lot of practice, as essentially, it is attention training; think of it as a gym workout for your mind.

Our minds typically wander, that’s what they do! We often find that our mind travels to the future, worrying about things that might happen. Or our minds might travel to the past, with thoughts about unpleasant things that have happened that we wish we could change or feel distressed about when we think about it.

One of the roles mindfulness plays in regulating emotion involves practicing observing your emotions without judging the experience as good or bad.