Introduction to the exercises

The exercises here are for gradually getting you to develop the skill of working through feelings.

At first, these exercises will probably make you more aware of your feelings only. Over time, while you get to notice more and more of your feelings, gradually a process of working through your feelings can develop.

You can notice you worked through something when feelings you had before are not there anymore. You may suddenly, but also without immediately noticing it, have gotten more relaxed. And you may just feel differently.

These exercises are meant to get you on the way. In order to get to work through deeper laying feelings, you will, however, need knowledge and skills that are not presented here.

Trauma

For some people, the exercises here can bring up rather unpleasant feelings. When you had traumatic experiences or episodes in your life, it can happen that strong fears and other intense feelings surface. You could do the exercise of writing your biography, for setting your mind to thinking about whether you might have traumas.

On the one hand, such feelings may be difficult to deal with, but on the other hand, the surfacing of such feelings may be exactly what you want. When you're looking to work through traumatic feelings, that can be quite helpful. If you cannot handle them, it may be better for you to not continue doing these exercises, and seek the support of a therapist or psychiatrist, if you don't already have that.

Recommended way of doing the exercises

To start with, it is recommended to do the exercises more or less in the order in which they are presented. The feeling skills you develop with the first exercises are useful to have in the later ones.

After you've done most or all of the exercises at least once, it is recommended to do at least one of them daily. When you feel you have some proficiency with this, you could proceed by doing them without consciously describing your feelings, and only feel them.

The exercises

1. Your biography
   It is very useful to write a biography of yourself, in order to get an overview of the feelings that play a role in your life.
2. Describe pictures
   Exercise your ability to name and recognize feelings and emotions. Describe the feelings you see that the people in the pictures are feeling.
3. Stream of consciousness
   This exercise is for developing the ability to be aware of what's going on in you. This can be quite helpful with working through your feelings.
4. Attention in your body
   We have a tendency to worry and daydream, and not be in touch with our feelings because of that. Here's how to deal with that.
5. Feeling the Inner Child
   The feelings in you as an adult, coming from when you were a child, are called the Inner Child. These influence a lot of your actions and feelings.
6. Processing feelings about relating
   In order to work through feelings where you relate to someone or something, it helps to check out a few things.