EMBRACE EMOTIONS
“Feeling is a powerful disclosure of our humanity.” – Eternal Echoes
Why are we reluctant to fully embrace our emotions?
Emotions are a fundamental aspect of our daily life. Everything we say or do results in an overall positive or negative feeling. Whether it’s enjoyment, admiration, and satisfaction, or embarrassment, guilt, and fear, they all fall on the +/- scale. Our opinions about people and situations are deemed good or bad based on what our emotions are conveying. Our minds can lie to us but our emotions can’t. We can convince ourselves that we’re fine and tell others how happy we are, but we can’t turn off our emotions. They know the truth yet we tend to ignore them. Are we afraid to feel them fully? As if opening the door will unleash all of the pent-up emotions we’ve repressed.
It seems that society has encouraged us to suppress our emotions to some extent. Too much anger, sadness, or even happiness is viewed as abnormal. It’s a condition that needs medicating. There are of course circumstances when additional medical support is needed to maintain a healthy life. But if we never express our emotions fully they’ll only build up and cause inner turmoil. It might be easier not to feel and forget our past pain. Yet that also eliminates the possibility of positive emotions and the chance for future happiness. So why should we try to embody our emotions?
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Being human means having emotions. We can’t be 100% logical with no personal judgments or feelings. No matter where or when, we all formulate opinions which are based on our feelings. It’s impossible not to create these opinions because our emotions can’t be told when to shut off. So when we disconnect with or avoid our emotions we’re neglecting part of us. The part that’s trying to help guide us. If we don’t embrace our emotions then we won’t understand the message they’re sending us.
When we decide to embody our emotions we can learn why we’re feeling a particular way and what it means. Why do I feel jealous, why am I still angry, or why does this bring me joy? Emotions are tools we can use to learn why we do what we do, thus giving us better insight into who we are. How can we act in our best interest if we don’t know what we’re feeling or why we feel it?
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Once we question why we feel a certain way, we can then uncover the reasons behind it. We can use that knowledge to learn about ourselves and grow from it. Discovering why we’re jealous might unlock a realization that we’re actually in love, or that our anger is actually disappointment. By digging through our emotions we can learn much more about who we are and what we want in life. If we ignore our emotions it won’t bring us any closer to finding peace and happiness. Ignoring the problem means ignoring the answer too.
We need to find a place of non-judgmental understanding when it comes to our own emotions. Because good or bad what we feel is valid. No one can tell us how or how not to feel -only we know our own heart. We need to appreciate and listen to our emotions in order to have a better understanding of our true feelings and opinions. But it’s up to us to decide how we let our emotions affect our lives. We can choose to stay in jealousy and anger. Or we can uncover the reasons why we feel that way and not let it overpower us.
Emotions are created by us and we can use them or they can use us. Ultimately, it’s our decision to determine how we understand and utilize our emotions -if they’ll affect our lives for better or worse. We have the choice each day to choose positivity.
