This morning I started feeling . . . off. So, I stopped what I was doing and thought, “If I open the Pacifica app right now what bigger emotion would I input and what underlying emotions would I tap on? …. Definitely “OK.” Not “Great”, but not “Awful.” I would probably put… “Floating” as an underlying emotion (even though it’s not an option in the app), maybe “Distracted.”
Hmmmm… OK. Now, how do I get to feeling “Grounded” and “Motiviated”?
It’s probably obvs from the fact that I haven’t posted in six months that life gets busy and it’s hard to find time to center ourselves. While I’m thankful for every single program that I’m a part of that takes up my time because I love all the things that I’m doing, it can leave me feeling outside of the moment. Like I am just doing the actions and not being present. It can be hard to find time to work at being still, centering myself, and self-regulating my emotions.
There’s An App For That
Also, did you know there’s an app for that? Well, kind of. There are two apps in particular I use to help me when I need to find a moment of stillness or I need to understand what emotions I am experiencing and problem solve if those emotions need regulating. Today I’m going to talk about Pacific, I’ll write about Insight Timer, the other app that I use, in the future.
Pacifica App Review
The app I use on a daily basis to aid me in discovering underlying emotions and understanding on those interaction with my other obligations is Pacifica. I set up Pacifica to ping me once a day at random. When it pings me I take a moment to stop and think about my overall emotional status, “OK”, “Good”, “Very Good”, etc. Then I look at the list of underlying emotions or feelings that the app provides and add those as well.
I’ve discovered that some days I can be “Very Good” and feel anxious. That some days I am only at “OK”, but still feel grateful. There are stats and a weekly update the get an over arching view of how my emotions have ranged throughout the week or month. This helps me look at particular stress points in my week and make sure I do some extra self care on those days.
It’s Not Just an App, It’s a Mindset
But the really cool thing after consistently using Pacific every. single. day? When I am “Not Good”, I realize it, I stop and think, ‘What underlying emotions exist right now?’ and ‘What can I do to address these emotions.’
Just like this morning, even though I had not been pinged by the app yet today, I was able to walk through the process of understanding my emotions and coming up with a solution because I have been doing that every. single. day. even when I feel “Very Good.” Using the app has changed the homeopath ways in my brain for the better.
It’s A Learning Curve
I don’t know about you, but I definitely was not taught to self regulate my emotions when I was growing up. I was told to stop having the emotions, which is not the same thing. I was told it was all hormones and to suck it up. I was not taught to take stock of what emotions I was having, to express them to myself, and to figure out a way to address those emotions with problem solving skills. Instead I was berated for not praying my panic attacks away.
Just this year I discovered the relief and feeling of support that comes from finding a good therapist. She encouraged me to see a doctor who has medication that helps my brain regulate serotonin levels. Now I have medication that addresses my anxiety and depression on a biological level.
I was never going to be able to just will it away, pray it away, or suck it up. My brain needs medical help for biological regulation of my mental issues just like people need medical help for their biological regulation of their physical issues.
My only wish is that I had discovered this earlier. Adulting is a learning curve.
Absurdly Nerdly 