Emotional retreats: 5 signs that you need space for feelings right now

psychology

Place there, here come feelings
5 signs that you need an emotional retreat right now – and how to create it

We’ve already heard of meditation corners – you yogle, breathe and don’t think like crazy – and well, it works. But emotional retreats? What should it be?

We’ve been coming across this term more and more frequently for some time now and, admittedly, it sounds good at first. But you only really understand him on the second sound – and it’s actually worth listening more closely here. As the name suggests, emotional retreats deal with feelings. And yes, that might actually require dedicated spaces these days.

In the fast pace of life, there is a tangle of “to-dos”, but the “to-feels” are often neglected. You can notice that, for example, by the fact that you have experienced, done and learned a lot, but felt very little. There was simply no time for that between work meetings and a friend’s suggestion box call. In the beginning, feelings knock on the door, carefully peek through the door gap, until we quickly push them shut again, because they really are an uninvited guest right now. Because we’re sitting on the train, because we have visitors, because we still have a deadline to hand in, or because we’ve just started dinner for the family, where an outburst of emotions wouldn’t suit us in any case. But if we don’t bring the feelings in later, in peace, but let them spend the night in front of the door, they set up camp there, resigned but resentful. What can that look like? Here are five examples you might recognize yourself in:

Psychology: 5 signs an emotional retreat could be good for you

You deal a lot with the problems of your loved ones.

Often there is not enough room for how you are actually doing.

You have mood swings and you don’t know why.

Sometimes feelings get tangled up and we don’t even know what they’re trying to tell us because we don’t listen.

You’re tired and annoyed, and it’s all stupid anyway.

If we never allow anything, negative emotions will eventually build up.

You have a headache that you really don’t need right now.

If we don’t listen to our emotions, they sometimes find physical ways.

You think: I don’t need such nonsense!

It can be scary to deal with your feelings if you keep repressing them.

Many of us have already had to experience the problematic thing about it: feelings only work if we allow them. And so anger, fear, and sadness only build up the longer we suppress them because they don’t fit into our achievement-oriented lives. Well, the solution doesn’t lie in crying uncontrollably on the bus or train or yelling at your colleague, even though you were actually angry with yourself. Rather, we can dump our feelings better where they do no harm and are still heard – in emotional retreats.

They can look very different, they mainly serve to bring us to rest. Anyone who has ever experienced a long stressful phase knows the principle – often you only experience the feeling of exhaustion when the stress subsides. Other emotions are also more likely to surface when we are safe and calm and have time to deal with them.

And what does such an emotional retreat look like?

In this way, everyone can set up their own personal emotional retreat. One tip is to work with several senses. Scents in the form of essential oils or candles can help us to calm down. But even an evening just for yourself and your favorite food, which is eaten at the table and not in between, can help us calm down, activate our senses and consciously deal with ourselves again. Examples of emotional retreats can be:

In principle, you don’t need a lot of space to create an emotional retreat, everything is allowed, except for one thing: your cell phone and all external influences should just stay outside for a while.

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