I developed a mindfulness technique that has some pretty unique features. I've used it to "process"/work through emotions as they arise (as well as before), and it has helped me overcome addictions, anxiety, and resistance to new ideas.

I goes like this:

When feeling emotional, ignore the thoughts and feel the sensations until they resolve into peace.

That is really all you need to know. I call this the "Emotional Distinction Technique" because emotions are composed of two parts, thoughts and sensations, and it works by distinguishing between these and treating each aspect separately.

Here is how thoughts and sensations differ from one another:

Thoughts lead inevitably to action. Sensations do not lead to action.

Thoughts can either be true or untrue. Sensations are neither true nor untrue, but certainly real.

Thoughts will continue in cycles indefinitely, leading you through an endless attempt to "figure things out." Sensations are limited in quantity and will "run out" when given proper attention.

Paying attention to emotional thoughts leads to more emotions.

Paying attention to emotional sensations leads to clarity and peace.

Here's how it all works:

Thoughts lead inevitably to action.

The great philosopher and founding father of psychology William James noted that all thoughts result directly and inevitably in action, except when impeded by the presence of a conflicting thought.

He recalls the experience of struggling to get out of bed on a frigid morning. While consciously aware of both the warmth of the bed and the chill of the room, he is paralyzed with indecision and unable to move. Suddenly, he realizes that he has gotten up! Something had distracted him, or he had become lost in thought, and in the absence of contradictory thoughts of comfort and cold, his original thought of getting out of bed had expressed itself without any conscious willing. He was, as he explains, "aware of nothing between the conception and the execution."

Sensations do not lead to action.

Even in the case of Pavlov, in which a dog is compelled to feel hunger and salivate at the sound of a bell, this is due to the association between the sound and the experience of hunger, which must be built up over time through conditioning. While it may be possible to condition a thought to be so strongly associated with a sensation that there is no "turnaround time" between the perception of the sensation and the action that follows, the mechanism by which this operates is still the thought of whatever has been associated with the sensation through conditioning -- not the sensation itself.

It is safe to assume that the first time the dog heard the bell, he did not salivate.

But like Pavlov's dog, when we develop a habit of overexpressing our emotions, we condition ourselves to obey them. We feel emotional sensations arise, and without an opportunity to stop and reflect, we find ourselves acting in according to the impulses of the thoughts that accompany them. This conditioned inability to pause and question our emotions is as common as it is destructive, to the extent that the great psychologist Wilhelm Reich called it "the emotional plague."

Our vulnerability to this conditioning is one of the reasons I recommend consciously deciding to do nothing when an emotional upset arises. Since the Emotional Distinction Technique requires a strict refusal to obey the impulses of your emotions, doing nothing is a simple and clear way to be sure, in the midst of an upset, that you are in command; as all newcomers to meditation discover, emotions hate to do nothing.

Thoughts could either be true or untrue.

Of course this is true of all thoughts, whether they arise from an emotion or not.

The problem with emotional thoughts is not that they are never true, but that they are never trustworthy. As emotions seek first and foremost to justify themselves, providing you with accurate facts and interpretations of the world is of secondary importance.

Reich explains that the thoughts arising from an emotion nevertheless have a certain "coherence," which allows them to appear rational and logical at the time without actually being either. While the emotion is present and striving to justify and express itself, errors and contradictions remain hidden from conscious awareness.

Therefore, it is impossible to skillfully judge the truth of a thought in the midst of emotional turmoil.

Sensations are neither true nor untrue, but certainly real.

No skill in judgment, or any faculty impaired by emotion, is required in order to clearly perceive sensations. You're not any less certain that it's hot outside when you're angry.

Thoughts will continue in cycles indefinitely, leading you through an endless attempt to "figure things out."

Psychologists and people who have suffered from depression are well aware of the phenomenon of rumination, of repeatedly thinking the same thoughts in an attempt to resolve an intractable problem and cure oneself of one's inner ailments.

This occurs in microcosm within many distressing emotional experiences; we become entangled in the thoughts arising from an emotion in the attempt to resolve it. Though it may feel at the time like we are "working on the problem," rumination rarely leads to its actual resolution.

Sensations are limited in quantity and will "run out" when given the proper attention.

Imagine a pressurized air canister. When under pressure, it has power. When that pressure is suddenly released, it exerts a force, and propels the can across the room. Emotions behave as if similarly pressurized, and when triggered propel us to act in accordance with their impulses. If we refuse to obey that impulse, more sensations arise, and the pressure to act seems to intensify.

Simply feeling (paying vigorous attention to) the sensations and allowing them to pass is analogous to holding the air canister still with one hand and letting the air out with the other. The pressure loses its power, the can doesn't fly across the room, and once the pressure is released we can put it wherever we like without worrying if it will "go off." Its power to move us against our will is drained, and now the only reason it will move is at the request of our peaceful, united, rational self willing it -- not its own trapped, explosive, volatile pressure. The emotion thus transforms from a nuisance to an asset; from a threat to a tool.

Paying attention to emotional thoughts leads to more emotions.

Thoughts are the mechanism by which emotions seek justification, expression through action, and perpetuation.

Paying attention to emotional sensations leads to clarity and peace.

The Emotional Distinction Technique, therefore, is this:

Ignore the thoughts; Feel the sensations.

This comment was adapted from a chapter in the book I'm working on (seeking test readers if you're interested! pm me your email address). There is a lot more worth addressing, but those six words -- Ignore the thoughts, feel the sensations -- are really all you need to reap all the benefits.