Feeling your emotions is an act of self love
This ongoing pandemic is teaching us many lessons, the least of which is that we can no longer hide from ourselves. When we are isolated during the restrictions, we must face our trauma. There is no other way. It is an act of courage to deal with our emotions, without fear or running away from them. Because by putting off our difficult emotions, we put off our healing. You can identify? For example, have you been dealing with the past few months being isolated from your family, friends and loved ones? What difficult emotions have come up during this time? How have you dealt with them?
Here’s an idea to consider: Many have noticed strong emotions coming up during the pandemic because of the pain involved. They have been cut off from their loved ones, while others have lost their jobs. Many have families to feed, mortgages, and the financial and emotional stress has become unbearable. This can lead to emotional pain, and if we don’t get over it, we experience stress. We can’t escape the pain because where will it go? Mental health therapists are inundated due to the stress of the pandemic that we have not faced before. We can’t hide our emotions or get distracted by other activities because they’re not available right now. That is why people are suffering because they have to deal with strong emotions that have been brewing for years. We must face them now and if we cannot do it alone, we must seek the guidance of a mental health therapist or reach out to those we love and trust.
The point I want to reinforce is: in dealing with our trauma, we are practicing self-love. This is the key message of this article. Facing your pain and feeling your emotions is the greatest act of self-love you can give yourself. Postponing your emotional pain allows it to eat away at you and grow in intensity. As mentioned above, sitting down and feeling our dark emotions is courageous because emotional pain and trauma are hard to overcome. But we have no choice because emotions are surging and pushing them away makes them grow stronger. So why not process them to the best of your ability?
Welcome your difficult emotions
Are you satisfied with this idea? Are you comfortable working through your emotional difficulties, knowing that it is an act of self-love? I realize that working with painful emotions may not seem like self-love. however, it is through self-compassion and self-care; we cultivate our emotional well-being. Self love recognizes that we are not our pain but something deeper. We are a soul, having an earthly experience within a physical body. We can identify with our pain and trauma because our wounds give us a sense of entitlement; feel and act a certain way. I’m not suggesting it’s entirely wrong, just a learned coping mechanism. After all, it’s not enough to just cope and get by. We must prosper as best we can. The soul can use pain as a healing agent to remove emotional debris from our lives so that our true nature can emerge.
To take this idea further: in order to transform our strong emotions, we must practice coming home to ourselves. I mean sitting down with our difficult emotions and processing them through mindfulness or somatic experience, under the guidance of a trained therapist. I don’t know about you, but in the last 18 months I have experienced a roller coaster of emotions. There have been good times, and then suddenly I’m plunged into inexplicable darkness, with strong emotions looming over my head. Initially, I tried to distract myself with activities, but eventually I dealt with my emotions. I know there are valuable ideas waiting to emerge when I connect with them. They are messengers from my higher self, to teach me lessons about my life’s journey.
Therefore, your practice when difficult emotions arise is to stop what you are doing, no matter what. You can occupy your time by playing video games, watching movies, drinking alcohol, or anything else. When strong emotions come up, just sit with them. Feel them, accept them and stay with them, with all your mind and body. Could you afford the gift of connecting with your deepest, darkest self? Are you willing to learn about yourself as a soul? Processing emotions can take five minutes or more to move through your nervous system. Don’t delay or put it off because you are busy, scared, or indifferent. It only makes it harder and intensifies the pain.
transform your pain
For example, in the book my stroke of insight by neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor, establishes the natural life of an emotion; the average time it takes to move through the nervous system and the body is one and a half minutes. After that, we need thoughts to keep the emotion alive. It’s no wonder painful emotions wreak havoc because we keep them active through our stream of self-talk. We are adding fuel to the fire every time we identify with our pain and create a mental dialogue. The way out of this cycle is to allow the emotion to move through you to transform your pain. Therefore, I encourage you to establish a regular practice of processing your strong emotions and journaling what you learn in the process. Become an observer and try to be curious about what comes up.
But here’s the thing: be careful not to criticize or judge yourself during this time. Just observe the emotions and notice how you feel after processing them. Many of my clients have commented that they felt inner peace and freedom when they undertook this practice. If you want to go deeper into the practice, I highly recommend a book by the late Dr. David Hawkins called: Letting Go: The Pathway Of Surrender. Dr. Hawkins was an internationally renowned psychiatrist who explored consciousness. His books and teachings are an opening to self-awareness and awakened states of consciousness. After all, the purpose of our strong emotions is to bring us back to ourselves; to dip your toes in the expansive sea of self-love. This sea is the embodiment of our true nature and the place we call home.
