Day 7 - Navigating the emotions that color your voice
Emotions affect the voice like mood affects the brain. Today, we are going to explore how our emotional range colors our voice. Instead of labeling emotions good or bad, positive or negative, we will start to gain better awareness around our full emotional palette and the awareness of how those colors impact our inner voice.
Emotions aren’t just happy, sad, angry, tired, annoyed… emotions are so much more than the label they’ve been given. Emotions are very deeply rooted in our body. They effect the way we walk, the way we speak, the way we think, and more. If we allow the emotions that we carry and give off throughout the day more weight than they intend to have, it squashes our inner voice.
If I were to describe my day as a color of emotions — as a true artist’s palette — I would say I start my day with white so that I have a blank canvas and a fresh page at the start of my day. Even though I have my palette and a bunch of colors are on it, it doesn’t mean I need to dip my paintbrush into all of the colors (the emotions). I get to choose. My inner voice gets to help me choose what I feel each day. So if I want my day to be yellow, it can be yellow. If I want my day to be reflective and navy blue, it can be reflective and navy blue. Sometimes I want my day to be black, and in my brain, black is connected to deep, deep self-reflection; closing the blinds, closing the doors and really being at home and at peace with myself. I go through so many colors throughout my day.
When I look back at the end of my day, it’s a beautiful, chaotic, human, crazy, beautiful painting. And if you think about it, we have 365 days and depending on how long we’ve been on earth so far, it’s a lot of messy, lovely, human paintings. To me, that’s beautiful because it makes our emotions justified but also it makes me feel proud of the paintings I've created; of the days that I’ve had and chosen, even if it felt like a bad day. For example, when it comes to having anxiety or depression, sometimes we can’t escape those emotions and it’s always healthy to look back and say, “That’s ok. That was my painting that day and that’s ok."
Emotions that elevate my inner voice are: Joy. Love. Compassion. Gratitude.
Emotions that suppress my inner voice: Self-hate. Tiredness. Sadness.
The most important emotion that elevates my inner voice is love. Self-love, accepting love from others, love for your passions. It’s such a strong word. Love elevates. It’s a word that we should be using more often in our daily vocabulary. If I say, “I love my outfit today, I love the way my hair is. I love going to this cafe. I love that coffee. I love spending time with you." Already it elevates the brain because it’s such a wonderful word with so many beautiful connections and connotations.
It’s also important to note that negative emotions or emotions we tend to associate with feeling down or “bad” are just informative. Those emotions tend to need more awareness and attention.
The more we can view our emotions as different colors on a palette, the more we can feel comfortable having conversations with ourselves about handling different situations. "I don’t want to do that, it will make me feel bad about myself" turns into, "I don’t have the emotional energy to try and that’s okay or I would like to challenge myself, and even if I get emotional, that’s absolutely fine and I don’t need to give myself a hard time.” Also, sometimes when I get emotionally tired or really down, the one thing that helps me is to simply say "No.” Being able to say NO to things that you feel pressured to say yes to is a huge way to allow your emotions to rejuvenate; to allow your inner voice to speak to you.
We deserve honesty and truth. Most importantly from ourselves.
Listen
Exercises & Journal Prompts
If you could color the beginning, middle, and end of your day, what emotional color range would you have on your palette?
EX: "When I wake up, I feel like my voice is white. Like a blank page, ready for whatever colors I give it. By the middle of the day, I want it to look yellow. By yellow I mean, bright, alive, energized, elevating the mood wherever I go and piercing through any negativity that comes my way. And then, when I unwind at the end of the day I see my inner voice like the night sky. Dark blue/black with silver speckles. I can sit and relax my human and go over the lessons of the day. It’s a cosmic moment for me to come home and unwind and massage the soul."
What are emotions that you imagine elevate your inner voice?
What are emotions that suppress your inner voice and need your attention and awareness?
What might those emotions be trying to tell you? What can you learn from these emotions?
Can you change the conversation you have with the outside world via your inner voice? Can words associated with hate, dislike, or gossip be chipped away and eliminated from your daily speech? (in both your inner voice and speaking with others)
Can you give yourself permission to be honest with others about how you feel? If you want or don’t want a certain thing, can you encourage yourself to speak up?
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Content Warning: This workshop content (video, written, audio) discusses body dysmorphia, eating disorders, and strong emotions. If you need help at any time, please call 1-(800) 931-2237 for the National Eating Disorders Hotline or 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.