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. For our summer series, part four, we're gonna talk today about three ways we can experience emotions and to kind of help us understand these three ways I want us to compare our emotions to music playing in the background. Level one would be you hear music, but you don't know what's playing or where it's coming from. Level two would be you recognize the song. But you didn't choose that song. It's just something somebody else is playing. You might like it, you might not like it. Like have you ever been to the store? And sometimes they're playing a great song and you're just cruising along grooving to the song without even realizing it. Or they're playing a song that you really don't like, you might all of a sudden realize that you're annoyed while you're shopping and realize that it's the song that's playing that is. Bearing down on your nerves. Level three would be you are in charge of the playlist. You get to pick what music you wanna play, when you wanna play it and enjoy it, how you wanna enjoy it. So the three ways we experience emotions are like these three different levels of music in our lives. Level one, when you hear the music but you don't know what's playing or where it's coming from is like when you're feeling an emotion, but you don't know why. You might be feeling irritated and anxious, but you're having trouble figuring out why. And so you blame it on circumstances like the kids or the messy house or the extremely busy day when really we know already that emotions. Come from a thought. this is when emotions feel like they're just happening to us. Because we haven't been able to find the thought or become conscious of the thought behind them. Level two, when you recognize the song, but you didn't choose to play it is when you feel something and you know why, you know the thought that's driving that emotion, maybe you realize you're feeling anxious because you're thinking I'm falling behind, or I can't keep up. But that thought just keeps popping up automatically. You didn't choose it on purpose, and you might be trying to push that feeling away, or you might just be letting it sit there. But this is where awareness starts. We're becoming aware of our emotions and what is driving them. Level three in our music analogy is when you get to pick the playlist. So comparing that to how we experience emotions. Level three would be when you feel something because of a thought you chose on purpose. You might choose to think, I'm doing enough for today and feel peace. Or you might choose to have a thought like, I'm not good at this. And feel discouraged, and maybe it's even a habit. Either way, this is where we're seeing how our thoughts create our emotions, and we begin to be more intentional. Sometimes we might want to intentionally feel bad. There are situations and circumstances where it actually feels really good to just sit with a so-called negative emotion for a while, and to feel that.

But this level is also where you can choose on purpose, how you're going to feel about a situation or about something in your life, and create the emotion you want to create to achieve the results that you're wanting. Now, we will all experience these three levels at different times, and just because we're feeling an emotion and we don't know where it's coming from, doesn't mean that there's something wrong with us. But the more we can become conscious of our thoughts and choose our emotions on purpose, the more we will have control over the outcomes in our life.

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 can 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 when you feel an emotion. Try and figure out what level you are feeling it at. Are you just feeling the emotion, but you don't know why? Are you feeling the emotion, but you know the thought that's creating it? Or are you feeling the emotion because of a thought you chose on purpose? Just beginning to have this awareness of our emotions and the thoughts behind them will help us navigate our emotions with more confidence and clarity. If you enjoyed this little episode or any of my other ones, be sure to share it with another mama and come back next week where we will talk about why so-called negative emotions are important. 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.