WAVE: A Simple Tool for Riding Life's Emotional Intensities

<p>I have this incredible friend, Amy Fogarty — she&#39;s a nurse, a yoga teacher, and honestly just a stellar human being. I&#39;ve done retreats with her in Santa Fe, and a while back she shared this acronym with me and I was like... <em>wait, what?</em> I&#39;ve been lovingly pestering her ever since to let me bring it to you. So Amy, thank you — because I truly believe this can help people.</p><p>We&#39;re calling this episode WAVE, and it&#39;s not just a cute name. When emotions are washing over you — and they will — it can feel exactly like being caught in the spin cycle at Pipeline. (Monique actually tried to swim out past those 20-foot waves in Hawaii and... yeah. That did not go as planned.) The intensity builds, you&#39;re waiting for the crest, and then it crashes back on you again. Sound familiar?</p><p>Monique shared something really personal this episode — going through the college admissions process with her daughter, waiting for that email to open, trying to manage her own emotions <em>and</em> her daughter&#39;s at the same time. It was raw, it was real, and it&#39;s exactly the kind of moment this tool was made for.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Key Themes + Takeaways</strong></p><p><strong>W — Witness:</strong> Step outside the emotion and just observe it. You&#39;re not buying into the story — you&#39;re noticing. <em>I&#39;m emotionally flooded right now.</em> That&#39;s it. Feelings are not who you are; they&#39;re windows into what&#39;s going on inside.</p><p><strong>A — Allow:</strong> Let the emotion exist without pushing it down, pushing it away, or distracting yourself out of it. You can&#39;t hide from what&#39;s already within you.</p><p><strong>V — Validate:</strong> Give yourself compassion. <em>This is hard. This is real. Being human is hard — we didn&#39;t come with owner&#39;s manuals.</em> Don&#39;t gaslight yourself into thinking you shouldn&#39;t feel what you feel.</p><p><strong>E — Explore:</strong> Where do you feel it in your body? Would a hand on your heart help? Breath? Gentle movement — yoga, a walk? What color is this emotion? What would it feel like to send it love instead of resistance?</p><p>When you run from hard emotions, they get bigger. They become the dragon in the corner that just keeps growing — until you finally go make friends with it.</p><p>Two things can be true at once: you can be sad about something <em>and</em> excited about what&#39;s next. But if you skip the validation step, you&#39;re still gripping — and you can&#39;t hold something new when your hands are full.</p><p>This is a tool for everyone — kids, adults, men, women. Waves don&#39;t stop. Emotional intensities don&#39;t stop. So it&#39;s not about avoiding them, it&#39;s about having the right surfboard.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Our Favorite Quotes</strong></p><p><em>&quot;You can&#39;t hide from what&#39;s already within you.&quot;</em></p><p><em>&quot;Feelings are not who we are — they&#39;re just mirrors and windows into what&#39;s going on inside.&quot;</em></p><p><em>&quot;How can you hold something new when you&#39;re gripping?&quot;</em></p><p><em>&quot;I finally realized I need to go pet the motherfucking dragon.&quot;</em> 🐉</p><p><em>&quot;Memories are built riding these waves — it isn&#39;t when the seas are calm.&quot;</em></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Chapter Markers</strong></p><p>0:00 — Good vibes and a big tease</p><p>2:29 — Meet Amy Fogarty (and why Mariah wouldn&#39;t let this stay on Instagram)</p><p>3:52 — Monique&#39;s real-life wave: the college admissions rollercoaster</p><p>6:00 — Why it&#39;s called WAVE (and what happened at Pipeline)</p><p>7:46 — Breaking down the acronym: W, A, V, E</p><p>10:48 — The dragon in the corner (and why running makes it worse)</p><p>12:13 — What WAVE looks like in parenting — and why it matters</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Your Turn 🌊</strong></p><p>This week&#39;s reflection:</p><p><em>&quot;Think about the last emotion that surprised you with its intensity.