healing repressed self expression

Repression is the tendency to avoid or inhibit the experience and expression of negative emotions or thoughts. Repressed emotions are emotions that you unconsciously avoid feeling or expressing. Repression can be conscious or unconscious. 

Repression can be a problem when you don't allow yourself to express your emotions, even when you are alone. Repression can be a way to regulate difficult emotions like fear, anger, and sadness. It can also be a way to avoid damaging your positive self-image. 

Repressed emotions are different from suppressed emotions. Suppressed emotions are feelings that you intentionally avoid because you don't know how to deal with them. For example, you might suppress your feelings after a fight with your partner. *While all these tools may give you some relief, i encourage you to reach out for a D-codes session with me or some of my peers, which is posted at the end of this blog post. 

Some signs that you may be emotionally repressed include: 

• Secretly thinking that anger and sadness are "bad"
• Rarely crying or yelling
• Overreacting when angry or sad
• Thinking you feel "fine" all the time
• Seeing yourself as "laid back" and "easygoing"

Healing repressed self-expression can be a trans-formative journey towards rediscovering and embracing your authentic self.

Here are some steps and practices to help you in this process:

1. Self-Awareness: Start by becoming aware of your repressed emotions and self-expression. Reflect on situations or patterns where you felt unable to express yourself fully. Expressing yourself freely can mean staying true to your values, trusting yourself, and expressing your thoughts and feelings. When you can't express yourself freely, you may not be able to display your individuality and character. You may also be perceived as cold or not a nice person. 

Some reasons why it can be hard to express your feelings include: 

• Not having the words to describe how you feel
• Worrying about how the other person will react
• Being afraid of being judged or rejected
• Low self-esteem

When you don't know how to express yourself, you may choose to remain silent to avoid conflict. You may also be stone-faced when others are crying or have very little facial expressions. 

2. Journaling: Maintain a journal to express your thoughts and feelings honestly. This can be a safe space to explore and release pent-up emotions and thoughts. 

• What are you feeling right now?
• What is one thing you are grateful for today?
• What is one thing you are proud of yourself for?
• What is one thing you would like to change about yourself?
• What is one thing you are looking forward to?
• What is one thing that is bothering you right now?
• What is one thing you are struggling with?
• What is one thing you are learning about yourself?
• What is one thing you are grateful for in your relationships?
• What is one thing you would like to improve in your relationships?

These are just a few prompts to get you started. Journaling is a great way to express your thoughts and feelings honestly, so don't be afraid to write about whatever is on your mind. You may be surprised at how much better you feel after getting your thoughts down on paper.
Here are some additional tips for journaling:

• Write in a private place where you won't be interrupted.
• Write for at least 15 minutes each day.
• Don't worry about grammar or spelling.
• Just write whatever comes to mind.
• Be honest with yourself.
• Don't be afraid to write about difficult topics.
• Journaling can be a great way to process your thoughts and feelings, and it can also be a helpful way to track your progress over time. So give it a try and see how it works for you.

3. Mindfulness and Meditation: Practice mindfulness to stay present in the moment. Meditation can help you become more aware of your emotions and create a space for self-expression to surface. Mindfulness can help you stay in the present moment by helping you notice thoughts and feelings as they arise. Here are some ways to practice mindfulness: 

• Focus on your senses: Notice the sights, sounds, and sensations around you. For example, you can feel your feet on the ground, see the roof over your head, or feel your body breathing. 
• Practice meditation: Meditation can help you focus on the present moment and stop worrying.  You can try a guided meditation app to clear your mind. 
• Be grateful: Keep a gratitude journal and be grateful for what you have now. 
• Be mindful of everything you do: Focus on one thing at a time and be mindful of everything you do.
• Practice deep breathing exercises: Focus on your breathing to bring you back to the present moment. 
• Remove unneeded possessions: Minimalism can help you live in the present. 
• Practice savoring: Avoid worrying about the future by fully experiencing the present. 
• Limit social media: Limit the time you spend on social media. 

4. Seek Professional Help: A therapist or counselor can provide guidance and support in addressing repressed self-expression. They can help you identify the root causes and develop strategies to overcome it. If you have trouble expressing or regulating your emotions, it can be helpful to talk to a mental health professional. A therapist can help you understand why you feel the way you do and how to start dealing with those emotions. They can also help you explore potential causes of repressed emotions and offer guidance and support. 

Some signs that you might be struggling with emotional repression include: 

• Feeling uncomfortable around emotional people
• Secretly thinking that anger and sadness are “bad emotions”
• Rarely crying or getting angry when you feel upset or rage
• Feeling “fine” all the time and viewing yourself as an easygoing person

Repression is an unhealthy defense mechanism that many adults subconsciously do. 

 It can be overwhelming to try to navigate repressed emotions alone. 

 Research shows that bottling up emotions can make people more aggressive. Suppressing negative emotions can also have immediate and delayed consequences for stress-induced cardiovascular reactivity. 

5. Creative Outlets: Engage in creative activities like writing, painting, music, or dancing. These outlets can provide a non-verbal means of self-expression and help you tap into your emotions. Creative outlets can help people express themselves and process their experiences and emotions. Creative activities can provide mental and physical benefits, including: 

• Reducing stress
• Boosting self-esteem
• Improving cognitive functioning
• Alleviating burdens associated with chronic disease
• Reducing shame, anger, and depression after a traumatic event

Creative outlets can also help people discover new ways to express their thoughts and ideas. They can lead to feelings of accomplishment and pride, which can make people feel more confident in their abilities. Some examples of creative outlets include: Writing, Painting, Playing an instrument, Drawing, Dancing. It is important to find the right creative outlet that suits you to maximize its potential. 

6. Physical Expression: Explore physical activities like yoga, Tai Chi, or even intense workouts to release stored tension and emotions in your body. Yoga, tai chi, and intense workouts can help with the release of emotions by: 

• Releasing endorphins
  These feel-good chemicals can improve mood and decrease anxiety. They can also serve as a distraction from negative thoughts.
• Reducing stress hormones
  Exercise can lower levels of adrenaline and cortisol, which are the body's stress hormones.
• Regulating the nervous system
  The slow, purposeful movements of tai chi can help regulate the nervous system, which can lead to a feeling of relaxation.
• Increasing other brain chemicals
  Exercise can increase dopamine and other endorphins, which can enhance a sense of well-being.
• Stretching muscles
  The movements in tai chi can help stretch and rotate muscles, tendons, and ligaments, which can help release tension.

Research has shown that yoga may help with stress, depression, and anxiety. Studies suggest that tai chi can help healthcare workers manage stress and help college students relax and sleep better. 

7. Affirmations: Use positive affirmations to reprogram your subconscious mind and boost self-confidence in expressing your thoughts and feelings. Affirmations are positive statements that you repeat to yourself to reprogram your subconscious mind. The subconscious mind learns through repetition, so by repeating affirmations, you can implant new beliefs and habits. 

Affirmations can help you: 

• Replace negative beliefs with positive ones
• Change your thought patterns
• Build confidence
• Achieve goals

It can take about three to four weeks to reprogram your subconscious mind. However, it may take longer depending on how deeply ingrained the behavior is that you want to change. 

Affirmations are not a magic bullet for instant success or healing. However, they can support your efforts to change your behavior. 

Affirmations have been scientifically proven to lower stress and improve self-worth. This is because your brain starts acting as if anything you're affirming has already happened. 

8. Supportive Relationships: Surround yourself with people who encourage and accept your authentic self-expression. Healthy relationships can provide a safe space to practice self-expression. Healthy relationships involve honesty, trust, respect, and open communication. Here are some tips for building healthy relationships: 

• Communicate: Talk with each other, listen, and ask questions. Set aside time to talk about your hopes and fears. 
• Respect: Value each other's independence and boundaries. Let your partner know you respect them.
• Spend time together: Make time for deep conversations, schedule regular check-ins, and create daily rituals. A quick text message or weekly phone call can help keep a bond. 
• Compromise: Both partners should compromise and give each other the benefit of the doubt. 
• Be prepared for ups and downs: Be prepared for the ups and downs of a relationship. 
• Let go of control: Let go of control and reflect and learn. 
• Create a foundation of respect: Create a foundation of respect by communicating that you consider the way your partner feels.

9. Release Fear and Judgment: Understand that self-expression is a fundamental human right. Release any fear of judgment, rejection, or criticism that may be holding you back. Fear of judgment is the fear that people will judge us negatively based on what we say, how we act, or how we look. Here are some ways to overcome fear of judgment: 

• Know your strengths and limitations
• Be aware of your inner critic
• Make yourself a priority
• Invest in yourself
• Be yourself
• Remember that people are more interested in themselves than they are in you
• Realize that everyone is going through their own problems
• Allow yourself to be vulnerable
• Focus on your strengths and forget about the weaknesses

You can also try mindfulness to help you stay grounded in the present moment. When judgments arise, try labeling them as just that: “judgments”. You can also try feeling the emotions that have become attached to the belief and fear. 

10. Gradual Steps: Take small steps towards expressing yourself. Start in situations where you feel safe and gradually expand your comfort zone. Self-expression is important because it can help you avoid mental and emotional pain. Here are some tips for expressing yourself safely: 

• Practice: Journaling your feelings can help you practice how to express yourself. You can also try talking to yourself out loud in the mirror.
• Be confident: Use confident body language, such as maintaining eye contact, smiling, and speaking with a clear voice.
• Be compassionate: Accept that people express themselves differently and may not immediately accept you.
• Choose your words: Use specific words to describe how you feel, such as afraid, frustrated, or anxious. Avoid using a plain tone when you talk.
• Choose the right time: Choose the right listener and the right time to share your feelings.

If you find it difficult to talk about your feelings, you can try these skills: 

• Taking a deep breath
• Practicing
• Identifying and accepting your emotions
• Choosing the right listener and the right time

11. Self-Compassion: Be gentle with yourself throughout this journey. Healing takes time, and it's okay to have setbacks. Treat yourself with kindness and patience. Self-compassion is the process of turning compassion inward. It involves being kind and understanding to yourself when you fail or make mistakes, rather than being harshly self-critical. 

Here are some ways to practice self-compassion: 

• Treat yourself as you would treat a friend: Think about how you would treat others that you care about.
• Practice mindfulness: Practice mindfulness.
• Acknowledge that you're going through a difficult time: Tell yourself that it's okay to have difficult feelings.
• Find small ways to practice self-kindness: For example, you could drink a cup of tea, watch a funny video, journal, or meditate.
• Practice behavioral self-compassion: Figure out what you need in the moment to feel soothed. For example, you could pet your dog or take a short break from work.

Self-compassion involves three core elements: Mindfulness, Self-kindness, Common humanity. 

12. Visualization: Visualize yourself confidently expressing your thoughts and feelings in various situations. This can help rewire your brain to embrace self-expression.  Visualization is a mental technique that involves creating vivid and realistic images of your desired goals, situations, or experiences. It can help you prepare for future challenges, overcome obstacles, and achieve your potential. 

Here are some techniques for visualization of self expression: 

• Meditation: You can do a guided meditation or close your eyes and imagine a feeling or experience.
• Affirmations: You can say them aloud, write them, or read them.
• Visualize yourself succeeding: You can visualize yourself succeeding in a particular task or situation.
• Visualize yourself achieving your goals: You can picture yourself achieving your personal goals and aspirations.
• Create a vision board: You can make your goals physical by noting them on a notecard.
• Create a “happy place”: You can create a “happy place”.
• Put yourself in someone else's shoes: You can put yourself in someone else's shoes.

When visualizing, you can use all your senses to make the experience as vivid and detailed as possible. You can also try to be consistent with your visualization practice, preferably at the same time and place every day. 

13. Set Boundaries: Establish healthy boundaries that allow you to protect your self-expression without feeling overwhelmed. Setting boundaries is a form of self-care. 

 It involves defining and expressing your limits and needs without undermining others' emotional expression. Boundaries can be emotional, physical, or digital. They can help you assert what you're okay and not okay with. 

Boundaries can help you: 

• Show up more assertively and authentically
• Act with courage and honesty
• Improve your mental health and mood
• Protect you from being used, drained, or manipulated by others

Setting boundaries requires self-awareness and good communication skills. You need to be clear about your expectations of yourself and others, and what you are and are not comfortable with in specific situations. When explaining a boundary, try to be as specific as possible. You can use examples to make your message clear. 

Some examples of personal boundaries include: 

• Not feeling comfortable hugging someone you've just met
• Not wanting a friend or family member to speak down to you
• Choosing not to have others in your home when you aren't there
• Being comfortable kissing and holding hands, but not in public

14. Celebrate Achievements: Celebrate each step you take toward healing and self-expression. Acknowledge your progress, no matter how small. Remember that healing repressed self-expression is a process that varies from person to person. Be patient with yourself and stay committed to the journey. Over time, you'll find that you can express your thoughts, emotions, and authentic self more freely and confidently.

All of these modality tools weren't enough to bring me the healing i was seeking.
Don't get me wrong here. All of these tools can and have been great assistance on my personal healing journey. It wasn't until i discovered D-codes that i began to uncover the depths of the things i had buried so deep, you could barely notice them consciously. This teaching program taught me advance like tools that took me deeper into the depths of myself. Having someone on the other end of the rope to help see me through to the end was the process i personally needed. now when things arise i have a toolbox of knowledge and skills to assist me in processing. Not only that, i also have a group of others i can lean on for help tracking further. 

This information can be found by clicking www.thegiftedpsychichealer.com/d-codes.html

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