Last week, I was driving home after a particularly long day of client sessions, feeling quite down due to some of the brutal stories that had been shared. My favorite podcast The Daily, usually a welcome distraction from the LA gridlock, was discussing preventable measles deaths, making me feel even more lost and hopeless. Inching forward, the tragic cause of the traffic revealed itself—a nasty three-car pileup. When I finally dragged myself through my front door, ready for the day to be over, I was greeted by my loving wife and daughter, but had very little energy to reciprocate.

My sadness was steering the ship, telling me to slurp down a bowl of sugary cereal and go hide from them (and the world) under my covers, blinds drawn. But, before succumbing to this urge, I paused, and remembered a skill I’ve learned for managing my emotions called “opposite action.” Instead of listening to the impulse to pull away, I did a mental 180 and blurted out, “Who wants to dance to Shaky Shaky?” I hit play on the speakers and an impromptu dance party to my daughter’s favorite song broke out. Suddenly, I wasn’t feeling so sad!

Despite my success in this instance, it is often very challenging to use opposite action. This is because, as an HSP, I experience my world more acutely. HSPs know that our deep thinking and intense emotions can sometimes get the best of us; however, in this post, I will teach you how to integrate opposite action into your daily life, even when it feels hard to do.

To put it simply: opposite action is doing the opposite of what your emotions tell you to do.

Opposite action is an........

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