Hey mama. Welcome to the Inside Out Mamas podcast. I'm Brittany Turley, mom of six, and I know what it's like to feel stuck and overwhelmed trying to be the perfect mom, but everything changed for me when I learned that small changes on the inside can bring big results on the outside. Each week I will share simple, yet powerful inside shifts or outside tips that can transform your approach to mothering, helping you thrive from the inside out. Ready to ditch the mom guilt and enjoy this season of life. You are in the right place. This week for our summer series, part three, we're gonna talk about what is the purpose of emotions. Have you ever read the book, the Giver? I remember reading it a long time ago in elementary school, and I've read it a couple times since, and I think there's even a movie, and I can't remember if I've seen it, but it is a fictional book that is like a future society where they've. Eliminated all pain, all suffering, all war, basically gotten rid of all emotion and enforcing the rule of sameness. So there's no colors, no music, no feelings, and no memories of the past, and the people are living in this really controlled society. It's peaceful, but it's a very emotionally flat world. And the main character, his name is Jonas, is selected to be the next receiver of memory. So he's the one person entrusted to hold all of the memories and all of the emotions for all of the people. And his mentor is the giver. And he transfers these emotions or memories to Jonas through touch. And as Jonas begins to feel for the first time, he realizes how much has been sacrificed in the name of safety and order. He realizes how much they've lost by not having emotions. So the book really questions whether it's worth giving up emotion and memories to maintain control and peace in a society. As Jonah begins to feel more emotions, he learns that feeling deeply is what makes us fully alive. Emotions bring meaning to our lives. They're what help us make sense of life and. They're also signals. Imagine your child is invited to a good friend's birthday party at their favorite indoor trampoline park, but they say that they don't wanna go, and you're confused because you know that this is a place that they love with a good friend. And after some questions, you realize they're feeling nervous and anxious. Because they think they will not know many of the other kids at the party. Here, the emotion that our child is feeling, the anxiousness or nervousness is a signal to help us understand what they're really thinking about the party, and they're thinking that they're not gonna know any of the other kids at the party and they're worried about that. Our emotions guide us like a built-in GPS system. We naturally avoid anything that feels bad and move toward anything that feels good. It's how our brains try to keep us safe and happy. So when something feels heavy, overwhelming, or stressful, we want to get away from it. And when something feels exciting or peaceful or fun, we lean into it. Back to the example of the party with friends. If the child was invited to the party for their best friend at their favorite trampoline park, and they found out that they knew all the friends that were going, then they would feel the emotion of excitement and they couldn't wait to go. Because they would be drawn to the positive feelings that they're having about the party. Everything that we do is because of how we think it will make us feel. And everything that we don't do is because how we think It will make us feel. We avoid hard conversations because we don't wanna feel awkward. We might avoid folding laundry because we think it is boring. That's me right there. We might plan a date night because we think it will make us feel more connected with our spouse. So emotions are signals. They're not problems. If one night your child is frustrated with their homework, the frustration is not the problem to be fixed. It is the signal that's letting us know something isn't working. Maybe they need a break or maybe they just need a new way of hearing the material to help them understand it better. When we're feeling overwhelmed, it's not a sign that we are failing. As a mom, it's a signal that we might need something we're not getting. We might need help, we might need rest. We might need to change a routine. We don't have to be afraid of emotions because they're tools to help us understand what we're needing or what our kids are needing. So just to recap, the purpose of emotions is they bring meaning to our life. They're also a guide. They help us make choices. they are signals, not problems. Now because I believe small changes on the inside bring big results on the outside. Each week on my podcast, I'm going to give you a small change challenge, something small you could do throughout the week if you choose, that could end up bringing big results to your life. So the small change challenge for this week is to take note of some of the emotions you or one of your children had today. Notice what direction you or your child took after the emotion, and think about what the emotion might have been signaling to you or your child about you or your child's needs. If you enjoyed this little episode or any of my other ones, be sure to share it with another mama and be sure to come back next week where we will talk about the three ways we experience emotions. Thank you for joining me for another episode of Inside Out Mamas. My hope is that our time together inspires more feelings of peace, confidence, and joy in your mama journey. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a show. And if you're ready to take these insights even deeper, head over to brittany turley coaching.com to check out my digital workshop. Designed to help you reduce daily mom overwhelm without adding to your to-do list. Thanks for listening. And remember, small changes on the inside, bring big results on the outside.