We generally talk about negative things in our life in a way that brings us and those listening to us, further down. When something hard happens to you and you blame, accuse, and criticize, this is what we call venting. This wraps up my series with Whitney Goodman, author of Toxic Positivity, and she is probably the fifth or six therapist I’ve had on the show who cites from much research, that venting only pours gas on the fire. It does not help. But neither does stuffing it. What does? Sharing how you feel. This is at the root issue we are circumventing. When something bad happens to you, the blaming, accusing, and criticizing is just victim response to the truth, which is…you are hurting in some capacity. In Brene’ Brown’s book, Atlas of the Heart, which we discuss in this show, she gives us 87 different emotions we can choose from and from them discuss the issue really at hand. When we discuss how we feel, we can then address the pain and gain ground in reconciling it. And in sharing our emotions, not our criticism, with someone else, instead of also dragging them in and down with venting, we instead evoke their connection and compassion which also helps us instead of further hurting ourselves. Join me and my co host, Randy James, Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine expert, as we drill down on this issue and walking it out in our roles as spouses, parents, and co workers. The Self-Help(ful) podcast is brought to you by Ziglar, your premier source for equipping coaches to help leaders and top performers excel professionally and personally. Visit Ziglar.com and let them inspire your true coaching performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices