Emotions – Do we feel or block them?
Love and happiness, we love to welcome them in our lives. And without any hesitation we gladly surrender ourselves to them. But if fear, anger or grief shows up on our doorstep we don’t want anything to do with them and try our best to escape. Strange… because in the end all these emotions have one thing in common, they are here to help us.
You know, that warm feeling in your heart that once it starts takes over your whole body. A soft glance appearing in your eyes and the only thing you’re capable of is staring absentmindedly. When this happens to us we immediately recognize the signs of our body. Intuitively we recognize the feeling and we understand that it is love we feel. Usually the feeling hits us out of the blue and, initially, we don’t mind surrendering to it.
The same goes for happiness. When something happens that you really like or you hear or see something you love, your body responds immediately. Your muscles relax and without being aware you start to smile and a sparkle lights up your eyes. You suddenly know that whatever is happening, is right for you.
Feeling emotions
Loving somebody or being happy isn’t something we decide with our head. We feel these emotions. It is our body that sends us signs to tell us this. We feel the signs, we understand what they mean to us and then we act on them.
We won’t think twice to push these feelings of love and happiness away or run away from them. Quite the opposite actually, we open the doors of our heart and welcome them in. We’re also not too prudish about showing off our love and happiness to others.
But what happens when fear, anger and grief show up on our doorstep? Are we just as happy to welcome them into our lives? Do we stop to listen what they want to tell us? Do we dare to show them to others? Or do we (and everybody around us) think that isn’t the right thing to do? Why is feeling emotions at that moment suddenly become something weak? For women, and even more so for men.
Basic emotions
Fear, anger and grief are, just as love and happiness, part of our basic emotions. They represent two sides of the same coin. They all have the same purpose, that is showing us what is happening in our body and what is happening in our life. And if that is something that suits us and suits who we are.
Welcoming emotions means letting them flow freely to your body and to really feel them. Blocking emotions means suppressing them and storing them in your body, with the subsequent side-effects.
Not only that. By not feeling emotions we miss the signs that could help us to improve things and to move on in our lives. How many times, when things get rough, do we look outsides ourselves to find the answers? When in the meantime the emotions in our body could have told us what is going on. And our intuition could have helped us to find a solution.
These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them ~ Rumi
Emotions tell the truth
Somehow, over the last decades and centuries we’ve forgotten the real purpose of emotions as our reminders and truth-bearers. They show us what things truly mean to us. Now, we only welcome those emotions we feel comfortable with. Pushing away the ones we don’t want in our lives. We don’t take the time to stop and listen to what it is they have to tell us.
There is another aspect to this. As soon as we find out what something truly means to us, we’re asked to take responsibility for our lives and for the things we do want to experience. We’re invited to say or do something and yes, that can be scary.
It takes courage to endure the sharp pains of self-discovery. Rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives ~ Marianne Williamson
It is time we welcome back all emotions in our bodies. Not to hold onto them and to revel in them. But to let them tell us what’s happening and guide us to where we do want to be and then, let them go.
It is time we realize that feeling emotions isn’t weak. Feeling your emotions and acting on them is one of the most powerful and bravest things you can do.
