Emotions

We have much to learn from our emotions. That’s what they’re for, to teach us about ourselves. I didn’t know that in my earlier life. I ran from emotions or stuffed them down.

Do you tell yourself:

Maybe it’s all in my head.

I shouldn’t feel like this.

I’m sure they didn’t mean it; I shouldn’t be upset at them.

I don’t deserve to be happy.

These are some of the ways that we tell ourselves that our emotions aren’t valid. We talk ourselves out of feeling what we feel. Eventually, we don’t trust our feelings and ignore them completely. Until we can’t.

That time comes with an unexpected burst of emotions that typically don’t fit the experience we’re in.

Has that ever happened to you?

Someone does something and you unload. After a brief moment of relief from getting those emotions out, comes a wave of guilt and shame and you can’t figure out why you had such a strong reaction to something so insignificant.

I’ve been there. Many times. For years I was trapped in a cycle of stuffing and offloading my emotions. I didn’t know how to get out of that pain or what was even causing it.

I learned that my emotions were there to teach me about myself.

I could feel love and connection only to the extent that I allowed myself to feel the emotions that I pushed away.

There is so much to understand about emotions. I will be sharing more about learning to feel, process, and release emotions in the coming weeks.

For my local friends, join me on Monday October 10^th to talk about emotions.

When we change the world changes.