Numb

Numb is gray for a purpose. When we stuff our feelings or try to hide them we lose our color – we look and feel like a gray cloudy day. Numb's message is that when feelings are not expressed they have a stifling, immobilizing effect on our bodies, minds, and spirits.

Ways to Use Numb

The Feeling Dolls live in Numb when they don’t feel accepted or safe enough to be experienced or expressed. We try to bury, block, deny, and repress our feelings in order to get rid of them, only to discover that we have stored them. It takes physical energy to keep these stored feelings hidden away. Many people who have stuffed their feelings have a stoic, “numb” look.

Take each one of Feeling Dolls (the four basic feelings were designed to fit into Numb’s pocket) and stuff each into Numb.

Say, “This is what you might look like if you stuff your feelings. Can anyone tell me about this?”

USE NUMB

To demonstrate stuffing a feeling.

To show what someone might look like if he or she has stuffed feelings.

To demonstrate when a feeling might be leaking out and trying to express itself.

To talk about what happens to us when we stuff a feeling.

To discuss what happens to our imagination and creativity when we stuff a feeling.

To discuss how to get a feeling out of hiding.

Tell a story about a child that stuffs each feeling as his or her day progress.

To learn more about how Numb people are created read about emotional coaching in The Heart of Parenting by John Gottman.