Have respect for your emotions
Emotions are a sixth sense
These days, it’s supposed to be cool to be impassive and not to react to any situation, good or bad. You see it all the time on TV and in the movies where actors show no emotions when faced with extreme adversity, as if they are somehow superhuman because nothing phases them. It’s all about looking good and appearing invincible. In real life this is a very difficult and an unwise act to try and follow. Our emotions are what make us human. They are also like a sixth sense, telling us when we need to take action, what decisions to make and what needs changing.
They are a vital part of us, they express the essence of who we are. Emotions are also an essential part of our intelligence. When we stop communicating emotionally we can become detached and socially isolated. Not to react with tears of joy when someone shows you kindness, unable to show anger, biting your lip so you won’t cry and stifling your instinct to burst out laughing are precious missed opportunities to experience life at its most authentic. When we lose the ability to feel and to express how we feel, we are unable to make deep connections with others. Blocking or suppressing emotions can lead to loss of identity, loss of confidence and manifest itself as depression or other physical illnesses.
We see so many clients who have suppressed their true feelings for so long that they are scared of what would happen if they ever let them out.
Would they make a fool of themselves?
Would they ever be able to live with themselves again?
Being fearful of people and everyday situations is very limiting and creates an imaginary prison that prevents us from being ourselves.
Fear (and its close relations “anger, anxiety and hurt”) can teach us an enormous amount about ourselves. When we experience painful emotions we can either ignore why they are happening and keep on endlessly experiencing them again, or we can stop, step outside the situation and look at ourselves, ditch our unfounded limiting beliefs and move forward…feeling much, much lighter yet stronger! What’s more by looking at your own fear-based pain you will be better able to relate to the pain of others and form closer bonds.
Life is not about acting cool to hide a fear of your emotions or people’s reaction to them. Cool is a lonely place to be. People rarely regret being honest with themselves or expressing their true feelings. The time for regrets comes in old age when people look back and realise they weren’t being themselves and nobody really knew them at all…not even themselves!
