Whenever I find myself feeling an ‘indulgent’ emotion like anxiety, overwhelm, confusion, dread, shame, or doubt, I feel guilty. Here is my model:

C: feeling anxious
T: I shouldn’t be feeling this way
F: anxious
A: resist the emotion; scroll on Facebook; reload emails; scroll through the news; avoid looking at my mind; make my anxiety stronger because I’m trying to push it away
R: I resist the human experience (Can you help me understand if my R is OK?)

So here’s the thing – I’m wondering if I first need to accept that my brain has ‘indulgent emotions’ sometimes, and that’s OK.

And, secondly where is the line between indulging and being human? What is the balance? Is it simply allowing, and letting emotions pass, even though I know confusion doesn’t serve me for example?