Allowing Negative Feelings

When we have uncomfortable feelings such as boredom, loneliness, irritation, jealousy, sadness, or anxiety, most of us look for distractions—eating even though we’re really not hungry, scanning our smart phone for messages, mindlessly viewing social media or surfing the internet, turning on the television or radio, jumping in the car to go shopping or for a drive, and so on. Although we don’t usually associate such activities with emotional distress, I want to suggest that we do often use th...