4 Tips For Sitting With & Processing Your Emotions This Spring

Springtime is sweet with its budding branches and blooming blossoms. It’s also quiet, careful and subtle. Move from winter to spring too quickly and you may feel overwhelmed or out of breath—much like moving through an emotion without sitting down with it first. Nature shows us how we can approach ourselves without expectations, urgency or judgement. How do the trees move through liminal spaces? How can we process emotions that winter stirred up while showing up for spring weather? Here are four tips. —Devon Loftus

1. Soften: As life outside begins to thaw, so do we. The ground becomes softer, the trees bend without breaking. When we release judgement and approach ourselves softly, we create space to listen and be.


2. Slow down: We’re only starting to wake from our winter walk, so slow movements are key. Take time to sit with an emotion before trying to fix it or change it. The summer heat and busy rush will be with us soon—treasure the stillness that spring brings. 


3. Surrender: Shaking off old stories and habits from the last few months can feel uncomfortable and tedious. But to evolve, we need to let go of what we think we know. Whatever you feel right now is welcome. Give it attention so it can pass through you. 


4. Sunlight: Find the patches. Sit in the warmth. Accept how good it feels and remember that healing is learning to embrace the light we find and create.

Devon Loftus is a storyteller, business owner and the author of Dwell: A Journal for Naming, Processing, and Embracing Your Emotions. Loftus recently became a certified End-of-Life doula and Positive Psychology Practitioner, and enjoys sharing her writing in her newsletter and on social media.