Hey there, fellow emotional explorers! Are you ready to unlock your emotional power and navigate the wild, wonderful world of your feelings? Let’s dive into the magical realm of fantasy to discover three secrets you never knew about understanding emotions, including anger, and building emotional resilience. By the end of this journey, you'll have a few more tools for you toolkit - creative strategies to boost your emotional well-being. Oh, and don't forget to check out my book published in November 2023 – the first of a four-part series, Invisible Worlds: Belly of the Beast, for even more insights!
The Importance of Understanding Emotions
Understanding your emotions is like having a superpower. It’s essential for your mental health, personal growth, and overall happiness. Think of your emotions as messages from your inner self, guiding you through life’s adventures. And trust me, acknowledging these feelings is the first step toward emotional resilience. For example, Brené Brown talks about the superhero-like superpower of vulnerability in the following video from her TEDxHouston talk.
Likewise, Karla McLaren, a renowned expert in the field of emotional intelligence, emphasizes the importance of developing a rich emotional vocabulary. According to McLaren, naming your emotions accurately can help you navigate them more effectively. Her work has been instrumental in helping many people, including myself, to understand and manage our emotional landscapes. Her work and her helpful book, The Language of Emotions - What your Feelings Are Trying to Tell You has been the inspiration behind my entire series of children’s books. For more about her and her theories, visit here on her page Karla McLaren's Emotional Vocabulary.
Secret #1: Embracing Your Inner Hero
Finding Your Inner Hero
One of the best ways to understand and harness your emotions is by embracing your inner hero. In Invisible Worlds: Belly of the Beast, the protagonist, affectionately known as "Our Girl," navigates her emotional turmoil by transforming into an unlikely hero within a fantastical realm. This transformation helps her build emotional resilience and face her real-life traumas head-on.
When I was younger, I didn’t exactly imagine myself as the heroine of my own story, but I did imagine vastly different and fantastical worlds that contrasted the difficult and overstimulating one I was actually living in. Every time I felt scared or anxious or very sad, which was often, I’d climb up like Jack climbing the beanstalk to the top of one of the many fruit trees in our yard. As an adult, I still have Jack’s curiosity but, in those moments, I wasn’t seeking adventure, I was seeking a place to hide.
This is a simple exercise I wish I had when I was young to help me work with my fear and build confidence. You can do something similar:
Identify Your Hero: Think of a character (real or fictional) who embodies the qualities you admire. It could be a superhero, a historical figure, a character from a book or even one of your own making.
Embody Their Traits: Reflect on how this hero would handle your current situation. What strengths do they possess? How would they react?
Role-Play: Act out a scenario where you channel your inner hero. It might feel silly at first, but it’s a powerful way to shift your mindset. You can work with many modalities to embody those traits, like drawing yourself as the victor of a particular situation, movement and dance somatically embodying the strength and other characteristics you wish to embody, writing new endings to your real-life situations, and visualization where you can reframe past experiences as the hero you wish to be.
Additionally, in this video about the body’s fear response, therapist Emma McAdam discusses how to reframe the idea of “perceived danger":
Secret #2: Harnessing the Power of Mythical Creatures
Understanding Emotional Archetypes
Mythical creatures can be powerful symbols of different emotions. In the series Invisible Worlds: Belly of the Beast, Our Girl encounters various magical beings, each representing different aspects of her emotional journey. This mirrors Karla McLaren's approach to understanding emotions through symbolic meanings and the understanding that all emotions are valuable guides on our real-life journeys.
I remember as a kid a time when I felt completely overwhelmed with anger. Instead of lashing out or repressing it with the standard response of “I’m fine,” when I really felt anything but, I imagined myself as a fierce dragon, selectively using my fire and rage to shroud myself in a tornado of heat ... well, actually at first, just burning everything around me to the ground as I stood victorious on a pile of ashes. I still use this technique today as an adult (with only occasionally burning everything to the ground). Dragons are often associated with power and protection. This visualization helped me channel my anger constructively.
Here’s how you can use mythical creatures to understand your emotions:
Identify the Creature: Think of a mythical creature that resonates with your current emotional state. For example, a phoenix for renewal, a unicorn for purity, or a dragon for anger.
Symbolic Meaning: Research the symbolic meaning of your chosen creature. What qualities do they embody? Additionally, you can also contact me here if you would like to explore the world of shamanic power animals in a treatment and healing context
Visualization: Close your eyes and imagine yourself as this creature. How do you feel? What new perspectives does this bring? I also help clients with guided visualizations exploring the body-mind-emotion connection! And you can find out more about that service by contacting me here in the contact section of my website or messaging me on Instagram: @mytwistedtummy
For more detailed guidance on connecting with these archetypes, be sure to also check out Karla McLaren's About Page.
Secret #3: Building Your Fantasy Support Team
Creating a Supportive Network
Having a fantasy support team can significantly bolster your emotional resilience. Just like in Invisible Worlds: Belly of the Beast, where Our Girl is guided by her emotions, watched over by a mysterious little yellow bird and supported by her grandma, you too can create a team of characters to support you emotionally.
How many of us can remember if we had an imaginary friend as a child? When I was young, I would imagine animals could talk to me and wanted to join me on my adventures on the beach or in the woods. As an adult we can recreate the imaginary experience with as many helpers as needed, we an even form council of advisors, including wise owls, fierce lions or cougars, and gentle deer. Each one can represent different strengths you need at various times.
Here’s how you can build your own team:
Identify Key Figures: Choose a few characters or animals that you feel connected to. They should represent different strengths or qualities you admire.
Define Their Roles: What does each member of your team bring to the table? Maybe the owl offers wisdom, the lion provides courage, and the deer brings calmness.
Engage with Them: Whenever you face an emotional challenge, imagine consulting with your team. What advice do they offer? How do they support you?
Recognize Them on Your Path: Next, when you encounter some of these animals on your path (literal or figurative) take a moment to reflect on them and show gratitude as they are reminding you of that strength and quality that you either possess in the moment. Or, they are reminding you to step into that strength at that moment. You can also go further and ask yourself: "where is this trait within me?"
Real-Life Applications and Success Stories
If you need some inspiration on creating your own symbolic fantastical council, there are great explanations and examples of myth and symbolism in this series by Mike Rugnetta.
Using these strategies can transform your emotional well-being. For instance, I once shared the concept of the fantasy support team with a friend who was struggling with anxiety. She created her own team of mythical creatures that acted as a grand council, like the supreme court. Whenever she is indecisive from being in a flight / fight state with her anxiety, she visualizes that she is in court asking her council. It also helps her to imagine them in a silly way, each character is an animal, some wear powdered wigs and big judges’ robes, one has a clown hammer as a gavel to bang squeakily when it renders a final decision. Play engages our ventral ventral system and can only be engaged when we are in the relaxed/ play / safe / social state.
If you would like to know more on how I help clients with somatic work and nervous system and emotional regulation using poly-vagal theory, you can read more here. In addition to my personal experiences, readers of my book and my clients have shared how these techniques have helped them. By integrating these secrets into your daily life, you can achieve a deeper understanding of your emotions and build lasting emotional resilience.
Success Stories from the Book
Invisible Worlds: Belly of the Beast is a story of resilience and transformation. Our Girl’s journey through magical landscapes in quest to return home is a metaphor for completing cycles of trauma, building identity, and finding healing. Her experiences highlight the therapeutic power of story and myth and the healing power of reframing trauma on one's path along chaotic inner landscapes. For inspiration on building our own fantastical team, detailed guidance, grab your copy and start your own journey of self-discovery.
Bringing It All Together
Unlocking your emotional power through fantasy isn’t just about escaping reality or making the world safer or bed=nd to your needs—it’s about transforming your understanding of emotions and building emotional resilience to face challenges as they arise. By embracing your inner hero, harnessing the power of mythical creatures, and building a fantasy support team, you can navigate the complex landscapes of your emotions with confidence.
So, are you ready to embark on this fantastical journey? Dive deeper into these secrets and more by exploring my book, and visit me at Twisted Tummy for additional resources. And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @mytwistedtummy for inspiration and updates. Let’s unlock the power of your emotions together!
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