Emotions Are Like Dogs
Emotions are Like Dogs: On the Difference Between Emotional Regulation and Stuffing It When I think about emotions and emotional regulation, I often think about a dog who was my friend. Her name was Tasha and she was half Siberian Husky and half German Shepherd. She and I shared a living space for sixteen years and she was just about the best possible companion. She loved to run outdoors and at the time we lived in the woods in a small town so she could range wherever she wanted. She would always come home after a good play in the woods, check her bowl, and plop down in front of the fireplace for a good nap. This ability to run and wear herself out, I think, helped her to be as mellow as she was at home. The local kids could pull her ears and her tail and she would softly redirect them. The new kittens would jump on her back, and she would carry them around for a while without complaint. She had some quirks, though, and one of them was that when people came to the door she would rush to them with her tail wagging wildly. She…