Hi friend.
Welcome back to Running to Myself. I’m Trisha Stanton.
A few weeks ago I had an appointment at the Mays Cancer Center.
I was there for a consultation. Nothing serious… just a little spot on my skin that needs to be removed. Very common for us gen X’ers who spent our entire childhood outdoors sun up to sun down without sunscreen unless you count the baby oil we slathered on our bodies as teenagers to attract the sun. Anyway, at my age, this feels a little like a rite of passage into what we’ll call “mature adulthood.”
But here’s what was interesting and why I am sharing this with you
I wasn’t worried about the appointment.
I wasn’t anxious about the diagnosis.
I wasn’t nervous about the procedure.
But my body…
My body felt like it had a tiny electrical current running through it.
There was this steady buzz of energy—almost like a low-grade hum I couldn’t ignore.
And I remember thinking… this is interesting.
Because my mind was calm, but my body was not.
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I once read that excitement and fear feel the same in the body.
Same increased heart rate.
Same energy.
Same activation.
The difference is how we interpret it and what we call it.
And I was really curious about this because at that moment, I didn’t have fearful or excited thoughts. There was nothing in my mind telling me something had gone wrong or that something was exciting.
This was more of a scheduling inconvenience than anything else.
But the sensation in my body was loud enough to be noticed.
So instead of trying to change or labeling it or making it mean something…
I leaned into my curiosity.
I noticed where I felt it.
I paid attention to the quality of it.
I reminded myself, this will pass.
And sure enough…
The moment I was called back into the treatment room and started interacting with people,
the sensation faded.
My body settled.
And I was back to feeling calm and neutral inside.
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Later that day, I experienced something very different.
Another wave of emotion… but this one wasn’t neutral.
This one felt like a mixing bowl of negative emotions.
Anger.
Frustration.
Fear.
And this time, I knew exactly where it was coming from.
My thoughts.
They were loud.
They were competing for my attention.
They were trying to convince me of something.
And I could feel the pull…
You know that feeling when your brain is trying to hook you into a story?
Where it wants you to engage… argue… prove… defend?
That’s where I was.
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And I had a choice.
I could step into the story my brain was offering…
Or I could step out of the fight.
Through plenty of experience with this particular story my brain offers me, I knew that if I tried to fight the thoughts head-on, I was going to lose.
The thing is, when we argue with our thoughts, we stay entangled with them.
So instead…this time, I made a different choice.
I disengaged.
I went to the gym.
And I redirected my focus.
It wasn’t a perfect transition and it wasn’t easy. Believe me, it was messy.
I had to keep bringing my attention back—over and over again.
But instead of engaging with and debating my thoughts, I gave my brain something else to do.
“Focus here.”
“Lift this.”
“Count this rep.”
The thoughts were still there.
But I made the choice to stop interacting with them.
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Emotions are like waves.
They can feel powerful.
They can feel overwhelming.
It can feel like they’re going to take us under.
But if we stop fighting them…
If we stop trying to control them…
If we stop attaching meaning to them…
Eventually, they pass.
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We call them feelings for a reason.
Because they are something we feel in our body.
They are physical sensations.
Not commands.
Not instructions.
Not facts.
Just sensations in our body.
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So let me give you something practical that will hopefully be useful in your everyday life. Here are 4 steps you can take when you feel an emotion wave coming
Step #1: Locate the Feeling (Bring It Out of the Fog)
When an emotion hits, it can feel big, overwhelming, and sometimes a little undefined.
The first step is simply this:
Ask yourself: Where do I feel this in my body?
Not in your thoughts.
Not in your story.
But in your body.
Is it:
* A tightness in your chest?
* A heaviness in your stomach?
* A buzzing in your arms?
* A pressure in your throat?
What this does is powerful.
It takes the feeling out of the abstract and brings it into something concrete and observable.
You move from:
“I’m overwhelmed”
to
“There’s a tight sensation in my chest.”
That shift alone creates space.
Because now you’re not the feeling.
You’re the one noticing it.
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Step #2: Describe, Don’t Label (Stay Out of the Story)
Our brains are fast.
They don’t just notice sensations, they immediately label them:
“I’m anxious.”
“I’m stressed.”
“I’m angry.”
And the moment we label it, there’s a whole story that comes with it.
So instead, try this:
Just Describe the sensation like you’re a neutral observer.
* “It feels warm.”
* “It’s tight and heavy.”
* “It’s like a buzzing or tingling.”
* “It’s moving up into my chest.”
No judgment.
No assigned meaning.
No emotionally charged story.
Just a description.
This keeps you grounded in the present moment instead of getting pulled into a narrative about what it means.
As you practice this, you'll notice that when you stay out of the story the intensity often starts to soften.
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Step #3: Let It Be There (Remove the Resistance)
This is the part that feels the most counterintuitive.
Because our instinct is:
👉 Make this go away.
But the truth is, what we resist tends to stick around longer.
So instead, try this:
Try out the thought: This can be here.
Not forever.
Not because you like it.
But because it’s already here.
You’re not agreeing with it.
You’re not feeding into it.
You’re simply removing the fight.
And when you stop fighting the feeling, something shifts.
The pressure decreases.
The urgency fades.
The wave starts to move.
Emotions are meant to pass.
Resistance is what keeps them stuck.
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Step #4: Redirect Your Focus (Without Fighting Your Mind)
This is where you bring in some intentional action.
Not to escape the feeling, but to stop fueling it.
Here’s what often happens:
We get into a loop. It goes like this:
Thought → feeling → more thoughts → stronger feeling
So instead of arguing or agreeing with your thoughts, try this:
Give your brain something else to focus on.
* Move your body (walk, workout, stretch)
* Engage in a task (clean, organize, cook)
* Focus on something specific (count reps, follow steps, notice details)
Here’s the key:
The thoughts are allowed to stay.
You’re just not engaging with them.
You’re not debating them.
You’re not solving them.
You’re shifting your attention.
And over time, the intensity fades—not because you forced it to, but because you stopped feeding it.
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You don’t have to do all four steps perfectly.
Even taking action in just one area creates a shift.
But when you layer them, it looks like this:
👉 Notice where you feel it
👉 Describe it without labeling
👉 Allow it to be there
👉 Gently redirect your focus
This is how you can experience an emotion
without being taken over by it.
Sometimes…
It’s just a sensation moving through your body.
And your job isn’t to fight the wave…
It’s to let it pass.
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If this is something you’re noticing in your own life—
the pull of your thoughts, the intensity of your emotions, the patterns that keep showing up—
This is exactly the work I do with my clients.
We don’t try to control everything.
We learn how to understand it… and lead ourselves through it.
If you want help with that, you can reach out to me for a coaching consultation. I’d love to walk through it with you.
And until next time…
Notice what you’re feeling…
without letting it decide who you are or what you do.
Thank you for being here with me today. Until next time, keep running to yourself.
