"Last week, I was driving home after a particularly long day of client sessions, feeling quite down due to some of the brutal stories that had been shared. My favorite podcast The Daily, usually a welcome distraction from the LA gridlock, was discussing preventable measles deaths, making me feel even more lost and hopeless. Inching forward, the tragic cause of the traffic revealed itself-a nasty three-car pileup."
"My sadness was steering the ship, telling me to slurp down a bowl of sugary cereal and go hide from them (and the world) under my covers, blinds drawn. But, before succumbing to this urge, I paused, and remembered a skill I've learned for managing my emotions called "opposite action." Instead of listening to the impulse to pull away, I did a mental 180 and blurted out, "Who wants to dance to Shaky Shaky?""
Opposite action is a Dialectical Behavior Therapy skill that interrupts unhelpful emotional urges by deliberately doing what the emotion resists. Performing the opposite behavior can shift feelings and cognitions. The skill is especially effective when high sensitivity and emotional attunement allow clear identification of feelings. A practical example shows a person resisting sadness by initiating a spontaneous dance with family, which produced an immediate mood change. Highly sensitive people may find opposite action difficult because emotions feel more intense, but consistent practice and identifying specific emotions enable reliable use of the technique in everyday life.
Read at Psychology Today
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