Volume 18.4 | Wisebrain.org

Become aware of a situation related to your experience of burnout that’s generating difficult emotions—having too much work to do, getting too little sleep, dealing with a broken administrative system, and so on. Play out the situation in your mind’s eye—what’s happening and who is involved, if anyone.

Label any difficult emotions that are arising, ... See more

Soften–soothe–allow: A compassion-based process we call soften–soothe–allow can help you learn to make space for difficult emotions and even befriend them. While experiencing an emotion as a physical sensation, you orient toward it with softness and tenderness, relaxing the constriction in the body. You then soothe, comfort, and support yourself be... See more

Labeling emotions: You can explore a difficult emotion that arises by giving it a name or label (fear, disappointment, stress, shame, and so forth). Gently repeat the name for the feeling when it comes up, noting what’s there in an objective manner. When you name an emotion, you stop avoiding it, but you also keep yourself from getting lost in it. ... See more

Joan Halifax, a Buddhist meditation teacher and writer, says that when fear is powering our reactions, we typically adopt a hard front (the critical cynic) to hide a weak back (lack of confidence that we can survive). She proposes that we turn this around when things get difficult, aiming instead to cultivate a strong back but a soft front. Having ... See more

Feeling emotions in the body: A useful mindfulness technique that can help you tolerate difficult emotions is to feel the emotion as a physical sensation in your body. All emotions have a mental and physical component. The emotion of fear, for example, may be driven by the thought “I’m way behind and I’ll lose my job,” but also express itself physi... See more

When we use a soft front and strong back to stay with the discomfort of difficult emotions, they tend to arise, do their little dance, then move on. We don’t have to be knocked down by them. We don’t have to shut down in a zombie-like state of burnout to avoid feeling them. By changing the way we relate to difficult emotions, we can get through alm... See more