Let me introduce the 3 minds to you. But before we jump ahead, a little bit of a backstory.

As someone used to bottling their emotions, sitting with my feelings is fairly new to me. Quite frankly, how do you give space to your emotions without letting them spiral and take over?

I’ve been so used to holding space for others, that I didn’t know how to do so for myself

One thing I know is that I didn’t have to do it alone. I’ve been going to therapy for a couple of months now and it’s been so healing. There is so much power in noticing your patterns and triggers. Self-awareness helps you show up for yourself better

Here’s an interesting concept I learned from my therapist.

Your mind has three states

They are: the reasonable mind, the emotional and the wise mind. We go through all the states but you might find yourself gravitating to one more than the other most of the time

• 🧠  The Reasonable Mind is used when a person approaches a situation through logic. They plan and make decisions based on facts. It’s more objective
• 💛  The Emotional Mind is used when feelings control a person’s thoughts and behavior. They might act impulsively with little to no regards to the consequences. Emotions let us know when boundaries have been crossed
• 🧘🏻‍♀️  The Wise Mind is the balance between the reasonable and emotional mind. The ideal state to be. They are able to recognize and respect their feelings. While responding to them in a rational matter. It’s also known as intuitive thinking

Another way to understand the 3 Minds, is to imagine how they might interact with each other:

🧠  Reasonable Mind: You should workout. You’ve been sitting too much
💛 Emotional Mind: I don’t want to do that! I’m tired, you’re stressing me out!
🧘🏻‍♀️ Wise Mind: I can be stressed about this AND try a gentle workout instead. I know I’ll feel better once I move

In this example, the reasonable mind is telling the emotional mind what to do, whereas the wise mind is acknowledging the emotional minds concerns, while soothing it in a reasonable way

I tend to use reason over emotion, using logic to overwrite my feelings. And now I’m learning to hold space for them

How about you? Which state do you tend to gravitate towards?