How about I teach a way to think and learn about compassion?
Nurses have advocated teaching about pain management. It was thought that if someone had pain, they would tell you about it. Not everyone can communicate pain. A very real way to think of it is that if you told me you had a headache. If I could not see your pain, it must not be very tangible, maybe its not real since its not real to me? You are able to continue talking with me and don't seem to be in pain. It was through nurses intelligent observation and sensible logical measurements pain became measurable. The 0-10 scale combined with clear descriptors of qualities of pain, that it became a tangible thing to manage.
How about anxiety? It is a type of mental pain. If you have never experienced a moment of panic, how would you know or empathize? Here is an extreme way to think about it. You have just consumed a whole pot of coffee. Some people are acclimated to that much caffeine so think about enough to feel jittery. Then go into a closed small dark closet, sit down and will yourself to be still. Remember there is caffeine racing through your veins, its small and dark. Soon enough you need to go to the washroom, but the door is jammed, it will not open. Try being calm and serene, its not happening. Now all that urge to urinate is creating bowel cramps from the pressure of sitting with a full bladder, but that damn door will not open. It is not just the anxiety that is the problem, it is the compounded symptoms. Now the door bursts open and relief is imminent. Oops, you had an accident on the way to the washroom, you are now embarrassed and no one can understand why. You are very flustered, you cannot tell them why since you don't want to admit to being silly enough to be locked in a closet. Maybe you are more jittery, breathless, talking more excitedly (hyper-caffeinated) in attempt to divert attention from your oopsie moment. Don't you think you are coming across kinda strange flapping your hands around talking mile-a-minute? Kinda looks like stimming now somehow. Stimming is a way to relieve anxiety, directs it, and is repetitive thereby calming, something controllable.
There are ways to relate and teach all emotions in this way. I've been trying to identify feelings and talking about them with MrD as if they are individual people. Anxiety comes to town, sometimes accompanied by Scared and Mad. Mad and Angry are similar but one is stronger than the other. Sad, Lonely, and Bored are often related, but confusing to decipher. Happy, Silly, Content are welcome. Start with the extremes then the subtle becomes more and more clear. We all learn by starting simple and building on it. Treating these things this way makes it more logical and then when feelings pop up, it is easier to identify the cast to figure out the story.
