How to deal with excitement

[Gianna]

I feel like I get overwhelmed by excitement. I don't have a specific instance, but every time I get excited about something it kind of feels like anxiousness. Maybe it's actually anxiousness but I am positively mistaking it for excitement. haha. What do you guys do when you have this kind of feeling?

I don't want to suppress any emotions; yet, with this emotion, because it is so intense I can feel myself suppressing it a smidge. Should I just let the feeling consume me? I wonder what its triggered by– my idea right now is that it is triggered by excitement, joy, love, etc.  

[Gesundheit2]

Could be a mild form of bipolar 1 triggered by spiritual practice or insight.

If that's the case, then simply meditate more.

[Eph75]

@Gianna

I think the sources and the reasons matter, whether it's genuine joy or our internal reward systems being played from aspects that not fully resonate with our values or doesn't feel authentic.

The sources contains the clues needed to explore in depth, and carries the links between the feeling and what circumstances trigger that feeling, causing the emotion. 

I interpret the sensation of anxiety as unease in that moment where there should only be joy. Anxiety is the calling out to us to become aware of something that has been lost to us.

Staying with that anxiety in the very moment as it arises and trying to peel off the outer undefined layer to see what lies beneath is important, so that we have a chance to act in some way upon the underlying need.

It could be literally anything, as associations made in the past can be rather unintuitive. 

Do you have contradicting feelings of not allowing yourself to fully experience excitement, such as shame or guilt from excessive indulgence in the positivity of the experience in that moment?

The reversal sound unlikely that anxiety would give a false sense of excitement, and then fall back to being experienced as anxiety again. Anxiety induces cortisol that turns positive experiences off, not on. 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Eph75

[Gianna]

30 minutes ago, Eph75 said:

Do you have contradicting feelings of not allowing yourself to fully experience excitement, such as shame or guilt from excessive indulgence in the positivity of the experience in that moment?

Maybe.. I feel like I have problems with self-expression sometimes in the moment as I freeze up. So maybe this is holding back the emotion from being fully expressed when I'm around others. But it still happens when I'm alone. But then maybeI still hold back when I'm alone. Idk, I don't feel like it's shame or guilt. But I think you're right, there is definitely something there blocking the emotion from being expressed. Maybe I should just scream because that's what it makes me feel like I need to do. haha 

[RickyFitts]

Do you do any body-centred practices such as yoga, qi gong, or breath meditation? I found those sorts of practices extremely helpful when I was suffering with anxiety a few years back, they can really help you to physically relax and release trapped emotions, tensions, and whatnot.

[Gianna]

@RickyFitts I do actually!  

[RickyFitts]

@Gianna Good stuff, hopefully that helps then 

[Nahm]

Might be the perspective, the framing. Never thought of excitement as something an I needed to deal with. Interesting take on excitement. 

[flume]

Anxiousness = Excitement without Breath.

[RickyFitts]

Here's a video that just came up in my Youtube recommendations that I figured you might find useful:

 

[Gianna]

On 7/17/2021 at 11:18 AM, flume said:

Anxiousness = Excitement without Breath.

oooo this is goood! Thank you. 

@RickyFitts thank you! I'll check it out. 

 

On 7/16/2021 at 2:36 AM, Nahm said:

Might be the perspective, the framing. Never thought of excitement as something an I needed to deal with. Interesting take on excitement. 

Yeah it's not a bad feeling it's just so intense it can be kind of scary

[Nahm]

@Gianna

Great that you’re doing the practices. Sounds like you’re reaping great benefits. Are you aware sensitivity goes through the rough as a natural result?

[Gianna]

1 hour ago, Nahm said:

Are you aware sensitivity goes through the rough as a natural result?

No, can you elaborate?  

[RickyFitts]

@Gianna You're welcome, hope it helps 

[Nahm]

@Gianna

Sorry, that was a typo. ‘Through the roof’. As in, increases. It can get rough though too.  Doesn’t have to be though. 

Practices, releases, expression, inspection… = more being. More being = more sensitivity.  Some previously unnoticed nonsensical thoughts will feel more pronounced, more out of tune, without the busy-mind around anymore. Like one violin in an overly crowded room, vs in a large empty auditorium. 

More clarity & sensitivity = more subtly discordant thoughts are felt. Like one out of tune violin playing alongside nineteen in tune. It stands out more, do to the now greater harmony. 

In one interpretation you are inside your thoughts. In another interpretation you’re aware of thoughts. The scary vs just excitement (Happiness-Being-Awareness) difference lies between those two interpretations.

On 7/15/2021 at 3:55 PM, Gianna said:

I feel like I get overwhelmed by excitement

Come back to being yourself even more, by letting subtle layers of thought activity go, via realizing they are occurring, and instead just directly feel…  aka, meditatively return attention to breathing and grounding in feeling / the body. 

The interpretation is what feels off, imo, not the content (excitement, said to be the object). It is as if there are four subjects there thought wise. The one actually saying it… the I that feels an I, the I that gets overwhelmed, and the excitement which is said to be other or not me, asserting upon me. 

Inspect… where is this excitement?   Where is it coming from?   What is this I which is said to be affected by it?   Where is that I? 

The more ‘either’ is inspected in direct experience, like pointing to it, the more it is seen it’s only transpiring in the thoughts, and thus the more the activity settles, and the even-more-feeling, being, there is, and the more sensitivity there is. Feel expansively, in the body, and then outwardly. Start with an inch all around. When you really feel it, then another inch, & so on. When the bliss is too much, dial it down. 

[Leo Gura]

Feel deeper, with mindfulness, breathe deep and slow, consciously relax tension stored in the body.

Expand your capacity for feeling good/love.

The capacity to feel profound love is not a given. The ego-mind is actually incapable of it. That capacity must be cultivated through mindfulness practice. It's actually very similar to feminine sexual surrender. Except you don't surrender to a man, you surrender to truth and reality itself.

[Preety_India]

8 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

It's actually very similar to feminine sexual surrender.

I often feel that. I can relate.

 

[RickyFitts]

7 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

It's actually very similar to feminine sexual surrender. Except you don't surrender to a man, you surrender to truth and reality itself.

Yes! This is what I've come to realise in my own experience just recently - I've been going through a kundalini awakening, and I can feel all that energy bumping up against all the accumulated resistance that's been stored in my body; in light of that, I've come to think of it in terms of allowing my physical form to be penetrated by spirit, very much like feminine sexual surrender as you say. It's given me a new appreciation for the feminine qualities of receptivity and vulnerability, and it's helped me to see what strength there is in those qualities.