How to Deal with Challenging Emotions

The following practices will help you center yourself and take appropriate action when you feel uneasy and don’t want to face a situation that’s causing you discomfort:

Journal for one week in detail about situations you catch yourself wanting to avoid or deny. Ask yourself, What was the situation, person, or thing that triggered me? How did I feel? How did I veil my discomfort? Answer these questions without being judgmental. Once you begin to identify your overt and subtle habit patterns, you increase the possibility of helping yourself in a new way. Rather than being judgmental, treat yourself with kindness as you make self-empowered changes.


Consider joining a support group or inviting a friend to partner with you. Check in daily with each other. Whenever you catch yourself in denial or avoidance, write about your thoughts and feelings in your journal. Sometimes this alone is enough to prevent you from going backward into familiar habits that no longer serve you.

From In Her Power: Reclaiming Your Authentic Self. By Helene Lerner. Atria Paperback and Beyond Words, 2012.