Emotional Growth
We grow emotionally when we stay with our feelings and process them instead of avoiding them.
This clip shows caring parents trying to find a way to help their child process her mother’s cancer treatment and possible death. They hypothesised that if they helped their child process the death of a dog (which they currently don’t own), their child would emotionally grow and would be a little better prepared to handle the death of a parent. There is a nugget of truth in this comedic clip.
This clips assumes the parents are emotionally aware to help their child grieve the death of their dog. Many loving and caring parents try to protect their children from the pain of their dog dying by sending the dog to the proverbial farm; leaving no opportunity to grieve and emotionally grow.
We grow emotionally;
when we emotionally process the feelings about the exam we want to ace.
when we stay emotionally focused as we compete in the big school game which ebbs and flows.
when we process the feelings around a relationship that fails and possibly gain some insight for future relationships.
We grow emotionally when we stay with our feelings and process them instead of avoiding them.
Self-Awareness
If we use the opportunity to process events in our lives, we will learn to handle life's challenges with greater self-awareness, empathy, and balance. Our self-awareness grows as we gain a deeper understanding of our emotions, triggers, strengths, and weaknesses. This awareness allows us to respond thoughtfully to situations rather than react impulsively. This doesn't mean suppressing emotions but rather learning how to express them in healthy ways and cope with them constructively.
As your children transition to adults, the knowledge learned in the How are you Feeling? program will help them feel safe to follow a path through their feelings. As 11 year old Philipe says: