tsunamis

Since I proposed a project yesterday, thought I'd give you one way of identifying and classifying emotional emergencies, by way of an image.

I may have mentioned this image here before, but even if I did, it's a useful one I think.

I'm a water fan, so I often envision waves and oceans. Using different sizes of waves is a concrete, visual way to categorize and examine emotional emergencies.

There are many different sizes of waves. Here's just a sampling of some of the types, and definitions for them...

Tsunami: an enormous wave, known for it's capacity to wreak universal destruction.

Slightly over the head wave, capable of knocking down most humans and causing significant damage.

At the waist wave, strong enough to knock down some humans, big enough to get anyone pretty darn wet, generally startling, and typically quite annoying; not generally life-threatening.

Sneak wave, can be of a variety of sizes and shapes, comes "out of nowhere" and can catch us off guard.

At the knee wave, doesn't usually knock us down; can get us pretty wet; is extra annoying, especially if we don't want to be wet that day.

Ankle height wave, can get us wet because it can run into us and spray all over, but not a threat.

And these are just a few of the possible waves out there. What the above list illustrates is the range and variety in wave size, and consequently the range of actual danger/threat to us.

No one that would deny the power and threat of a tsunami. A tsunami is the equivalent of a true emotional emergency. And sometimes in life they happen, and they are very, very difficult to deal with.

Where people get wary and then confused is perceiving every wave as a tsunami. There are a few reasons this can happen, but when someone begins to see every wave as a tsunami he/she loses the ability to truly differentiate between what's a real threat and what isn't. That leaves her over-prepared for most waves and underprepared if a real tsunami does comes along. Plus, she has to live on "high-alert" all the time, which we know is exhausting and depressing and anxiety producing- and ultimately pretty futile in terms of effective protection for ourselves.

It can be a challenge to honestly assess emotional wave sizes, especially if you've been seeing tsunamis coming at you right and left for a long time. You'll probably feel vulnerable and worry that you won't be prepared or able to protect yourself if you aren't defending yourself from a tsunami 24/7. Of course, the reality is, most waves are of manageable size- they may get us wet, even knock us around some- but most are doable. As you get your emotional emergency list into the right "wave size" categories you'll be SO much better able to figure out how you want to deal with the varieties of wave height and speed. And, and this is such a good thing. you'll get to rest in a way that you can't when all you see on the horizon is tsunami after tsunami.

This wave image has been a favorite of mine for a long time, and because of that it makes a lot of sense to me. Please ask if you have questions and I'll be more than happy to explain!

Comments

[leanonme]

I love the Wave image. I love the ocean so this works for me.
Often feelings and emotions present with the force of a psunami and if i am not careful take me down in full force. The discription of different types, sizes, and forces of the ocean gives me a broader prespective and ability to catigorize their true danger. The challenge is to not allow myself to Worry, or autimatically brace, guard, protect myself from a wave that might be much less forgiving than i imagine.

[Ann]

I've been thinking about the emotional emergencies and what constitutes one and all of the different levels. But, what I'm having a hard time with is figuring out how to allow the emotions float to the surface. I can tell when I'm having an emotion however it's like its buried deep inside me. I can just tell that its there, but I'm not able to bring it to the surface to express it. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack you know the needle's in there, but it's extremely difficult to find. Or when you have a splinter, but you can't see it to get it out. You can feel that it's in there, but there's no evidence on the outside. So, what can I do to get past this place I'm in?