“The deeper you feel, the deeper you heal, and the more layers of your trauma you turn into wisdom.” – Inner Practitioner, Twitter
Don’t be afraid of your feelings. So many of us have been shamed for feeling deeply when we were children. Feelings rule so many of our actions in our lives. When we desire a particular thing, or a job, or a relationship, it is almost always because of the positive feelings that we believe that these things, or experiences, or people will bring to us. Feelings have a lot of power. Shouldn’t we become acutely aware of our feelings’ power over us, so that we can understand that power, and harness that power to lead us into positive directions?
Some people may scoff at this and say, well, I have total control of my feelings. Do you? Or do you suppress your feelings? Do you deny your feelings? Having complete control of your actions, which could be caused by your feelings, is a good thing. But, I assure you that you do not have total control of your feelings. Feelings are just a natural response to your thoughts, and to your perspectives of what is happening in your life. Your feelings are meant to be felt. To fully feel your feelings, is to get relief, and to get direction, and to live your life as fully and purely and intensely, as it was meant to be lived. To feel your feelings, means that you have completely soaked in, and wholly marinated in an experience, and that “staying in the moment” process allows your deep feelings to be alchemized into the highest levels of wisdom and compassion, as the Inner Practitioner so eloquently states, in the opening quote.
If you suppress your feelings, they will often become bottled up, like in a pressure cooker, and then out of nowhere, you will be screaming like a maniac at a driver who accidentally cut you off, or you will become robotic, and you will act curt and cruel and cold, sometimes to the people whom you love the most in your life. If you deny your feelings, they will grow and grow and grow, sometimes into major health problems and addictions, and often into unexplainable aches and pains.
Feelings are just feelings. They aren’t “good” or “bad.” Why are we so afraid of them? We won’t die from our feelings, if we are brave enough to face them head on. When we look at our feelings in a detached, aware state we can notice where they are in our bodies. Do you feel sadness in your throat? Do you feel anger in your chest? What is the physical sensation of feeling peaceful? Notice it. When we become intimate with our feelings, we are often surprised by just how quickly they pass into another state of being. Feelings are our friends. Feelings are a big, big part of being human. Why would we ever want to deny or to suppress one of the largest elements of our amazing living experience?
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Welcome back and we really missed you. Thank you for your post today and making me stop and really think.
My biggest feeling that I suppress and avoid is anger. I used to really avoid anger and held it in until I was alone in my car where I would actually take out my anger yelling at other drivers on the road for doing things that I perceived stupid, dangerous or wrong. I was like a crazy woman honestly.
I’ve become better with allowing myself to feel anger and I no longer take out my aggressions in the safety of my own car with the windows up so no one could hear me. Now I only do that when I listen and sing along to the song Shout by Tears for Fears when I need to release some anger. LOL!
Your post really resonated with me, made me pause and think. I still have some work to do and need to really welcome my anger to sit down have some tea with me. As I’m sure that could be why I’ve developed some Achilles’ pain that isn’t going away very quickly. So thank you for making me stop and look inward.
You are so welcome, Vicki! We do this for each other! <3