Name It to Tame It

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Reading the news can be upsetting.

Lately, the American news has been triggering big emotions for a lot of folks.

Regardless of your politics, it's important to learn strategies on how to stay globally informed and emotionally regulated. When we read the news, it's normal to get upset -- I mean after all, the media knows that activating your fight/flight brain is what is going to cause the curious urge to click on a story.

We might get dysregulated when we read the news.

What matters is what we do with it.

What matters is how we take care of ourselves afterwards so we can respond instead of react.

In my workshops and groups, I teach strategies to help the brain calm back down after getting triggered.

The first step is to name what is happening -- the emotion(s), the bodily sensation(s), or the action urge(s).

One of my favorite therapy sayings is:

Name it to tame it.

The news is going to be triggering right now.

I suggest using a timer to limit your absorption and then make sure you have time intentionally carved out afterwards to re-regulate.

What is happening in your body right now as you read this?

What emotions are you noticing?

I know this is tough to read.

Let the emotions come.

Please, try to stay with me.

Can you name the feelings arising? Can you describe the urges happening in your body?

Frozen like ice.

Urge to throw up.

Urge to cry.

Urge to run away.

Urge to hit.

Urge to curl into a ball forever and ever.

Come back to me.

Notice the emotion arising and name what is happening in your body as sensation or an urge.

Take some deep breaths. Feel your feet on the floor or touching the earth beneath you.

Notice your nearest exit -- a door, a window.

Come back to me.

Take three more deep breaths -- in through the nose and out through the mouth like you're blowing out a candle.

One -- Inhale/exhale.

Two -- Inhale/exhale.

Three -- Inhale/exhale.

Notice your hands. Squeeze your fists as tight as you can, now let them go.

Notice your shoulders. Squeeze your shoulders as tight as you can, now let them go.

If you're feeling activated - squirmy or irritable, try shaking your body out -- as if you just came in from the pouring rain.

"Shake it like a Polaroid picture."

(Thank you, Outkast)

If you're feeling pissed off, try pushing into a wall -- standing wall-push ups or 30-second wall-sits (back against the wall, knees at a 40' angle).

When we read news stories that trigger emotions, we have to be able to discharge the emotion we just activated and picked up.

It's like going fishing. When you read the news, an emotion inside of you is going to bite.

We have to catch, name, and release.

We can name the emotion.

Name the emotion to tame the emotion.

Name the bodily sensation to tame the bodily sensation.

Name the urge to tame the urge.

We can do this with a trusted friend or loved one.

Sometimes we need a group space to really process what is coming up.

Sometimes we need outside help to calm back down.

May we also remember to use humor to cope. Brief distractions after the news -- think fuzzy baby animal videos on youtube or dancing to early 2000's music videos -- are wonderful ways to shift out of a big emotion.

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Thirty-minute formula to read the news and re-regulate:

20 minutes -- news absorption

2 minutes -- name how you're responding (emotion/bodily sensation/urges)

3 minutes -- releasing the emotion (push/press/shake/squeeze)

5 minutes -- healthy distract (fresh air/humor/warm-fuzzy calm feels with music, lotion or furry pets)

May you remember to take care of yourself after reading the news.

Hannah 

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