Act 1: Resistance

Thumping heart
demands
attention.

Prickling foreboding;
tears will flow.

Tense jaw.

Hands balled
in pockets.

Rigidity
(in fear of 
fragility).

Sensations 
laden 
with judgement;
shoulds and should nots,
self-blame,
shame,
not up to the game. 

The motion 
of emotion
encumbered.

Act 2: Curiosity

Emotions are signals.

Stop, 
pay attention,
observe.

Stay a while…. 
see how sensations 
swivel and shift
or sit rooted.

Recognise (this is anxiety)
Accept (this is already here)
Investigate (what is it like?)
Non-identify (this does not define me).

Signal received,
the rain clears.

The motion
of emotion
set free.

Act 3: Sense-making

I practise observing,
decoding:

feeling feelings,
identifying roots,
choosing to act or 
choosing to sit,

allowing life’s river to flow.

The motion
of emotion
passes through.

Act 4: Life events

Life’s river
flows
into a sparkling sea.

Suddenly,
a squall
erupts.

Immense 
waves 
soar 
and plunge.

Cast adrift from fellow sailors,
my buffeted boat
bears a battering.

Cavernous troughs
crack open
as another storm
rips through.

Equilibrium lost.

Currents collide;
destabilising
ocean deep.

Emotions churn.

Act 5: Tumult

Emotion pours out.

In quiet moments
tears cascade.

When asked “How are you?”
Tears flow.

Asking ‘How am I?’
Tears tumble.

The emotional snow-globe
refuses to settle.

Listen to the signals, 
decode their message:

I am lonely.

I feel abandoned.

Have I lost the ability to connect?

I need to make decisions 
about things I do not understand.

Crying daily
stress and sadness fester;
fed by forming 
narratives. 

Am I depressed?

Should I see a doctor?

The motion
of emotion
spiralling down.

I want to
stop feeling like this.

Dying would make it stop.

Act 6: Suffering jolted

into perspective:

someone else had the same thought
and acted on it.

I won’t do that.

Act 7: Modulation

Time to be objective,
stop rumination
in its tracks.

Diagnostic criteria
for depression
I do not meet.

Observe the present moment:
am I lonely right now?

No; not with you here and
present with me.

Notice when joy bubbles up
(and it does!)

It’s OK
to focus on one thing,
stop juggling everything.

Gradually,
overcoming challenges,
clouds clear.

I solidify the prospect
of sunnier skies to come;

making plans
brings anticipatory pleasure,

I welcome offers from the world

and am grateful
for others’ overtures;
opportunities to reconnect.

Letting go of story-telling:

the motion
of emotion
exiting the vortex.

Blog image by Alan Frijns from Pixaby

• Managing mood and energy