The most common emotion I see people struggle with these days is anxiety, which eventually manifests as depression, as too much worry causes you to no longer feel joy in dealing with the everyday of life. Learning to shift anxiety and fear quickly to something more positive is essential if you want to maintain a sense of mastery and happiness in your life.
We don’t necessarily have much say as far as the emotions that arise in us, but we do have a great deal of choice as to what we do with them. Understanding energy and the power of thought and emotion as I do, I no longer linger with worry, but continuously upgrade those emotions to more positive feelings of courage and willingness, as soon as I can, when I can. I use the map of consciousness by David Hawkins to get a sense of where to go next, and the idea is to move from quickly from any of the emotions below 200 (Courage) to the higher emotions that allow us to come back into our power.
Here is a terrific post about the question as to what comes first, thoughts or feelings.
I will tell you that emotion trumps thought every time. We are emotional beings, with tender hearts and limbic systems that thrive on connection. Feelings live in our bodies, and they are triggered by external events that seem to have nothing to do with past hurts or traumas, and yet, we can be catapulted back 30 years in a heartbeat.
What do we do when we are “supposed to feel happy” and instead feel jealous, angry or sad? What do we do when no one around us can fathom why we feel the way we do, and it feels so familiar?
That is always a signal that something ancient, from your past, has been triggered, and sometimes YOU are the only one who can validate you and what you are actually experiencing. Don’t waste time sulking that others don’t get you. The key is not to discount yourself, but to make friends with whatever is coming up. Don’t discount you. Make room for your feelings, whatever they are. Welcome them like long lost children returning home.
We are all explorers in this vast landscape of consciousness, finding our way through time warps and illusions of the mind. Everything heals in the present moment, and all that has ever happened can be brought forward to be known in a new way.
I believe all the wounds we suffer from are mishaps in nurturance, moments when we might have felt cherished but did not. We are both the parent and the child at once, either re-wounding or welcoming ourselves home.
We do have choice. It is precious, this ability to choose love over fear, and it arises with every breath we take. If we can learn to greet each feeling as we would a new-born baby, we can renew ourselves over and over.
It takes slowing down, as the attunement between mother and child requires a slowing down. It takes noticing the harsh voices we have internalized, and surrendering them for a gentler and more compassionate voice that understands.
May all beings be free from the shackles of repetition, and come to know the newness of love, as it arises moment to moment.
May all beings be touched by the soft knowing of compassion. Here is the Prayer for Compassion to remind you of your bigger reason for being here. Read it every morning for 30 days and you will open a vast chamber in your heart.
