Why Being Emotional Is A Good Thing
I have always been a pretty emotional person since childhood. I feel all of the emotions and I feel them hard and it can be too much to bare sometimes. The theme of all the jokes, the nicknames I was called, the stories about me people repeat and laugh about over the years all have to do with me being overly emotional. Its something I’ve always struggled with and a part of myself I've naturally disliked, suppressed, hid. It’s root cause of my dissociation. Aside from being made fun of I think in society there is a negative stigma with our emotions. “Think with your head not with your heart” or emotional displays equating to incompetence. Rarely is someone described as favorably “emotional”. Its usually viewed as something that hinders one’s ability rather than being a super power. And while obviously there is a case for the extremes and being so emotionally out of control that you can’t function. Is the problem really the emotion? could it be how we are responding to it.
Over the course of my studies and experience in holistic health there is much written about quite the opposite idea. That our emotions, our heart center is actually a guidance system. Yoga, John Upledger’s work with Cranio Sacral Therapy and Somato Emotional Release, Ask and It Is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks, Becoming Supernatural by Joe Dispenza, Heart Math Institute and i’m sure many more all point to this concept. That our emotions are a guidance system of wisdom and intuition. If you are willing to take a step further its through our emotions spirit speaks. “Its though the crack in our heart that light shines through”.
In much of the somatic work I do, the heart of what makes these experiences so healing is that people have the opportunity to feel, confront, express and move through trapped emotions. Simply having the space and a neutral observer allows them to feel their feelings without judgment, and eventually get to the wisdom, the lesson, the light. This may have been the seat and source of a lot of darkness, something they have been cycling through causing all sorts of pain and dis-ease in the the person. The healing is in the feeling and understanding and letting go of guilt, shame, anger and any other lower vibration emotion so we can raise our frequency. Emotions are our mile markers, our barometers, our radar. Its how we can sense when we are in or out of alignment with yourself. When we are safe or in danger. Emotions are precious and wise. Emotional intelligence, fluidity, vulnerability, the ability to affect people and be affected, these are the gifts! Its why we love the arts so much! RAW EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION! This is part of why I love music so much, it rips my damn heart RIGHT open. These are the superpowers and it does not come from putting the brain first. It comes from heart coherence and competence.
While in meditation this morning I was thinking about how emotional we are right now. Everything feels VERY heavy. everywhere we turn we are emotionally breaking. You even hear older generations complaining about the emotional fragility of the younger generations. The extreme of this is how careful we now have to be not to offend each other. How much we have to mind our words and be careful because we’ll be crucified for sharing an incomplete, undeveloped, or unpopular opinion, or simply because something we said or did unintentionally offended someone. We’re on constant eggshells. We are so polarized and EMOTIONAL these days its hard to I think of this as a good thing. It doesn’t FEEL good. I couldn’t help but smile. We’re evolving to be more emotional, and while it might seem like we breaking under the emotional pressure, every strong evovled, embodied, superhero, teacher, artist, healer, or friend I look up to has a heroing tale. They have dealt with and continue to deal with immense emotional pressure. What continually comes out is a beautiful diamond that shines brilliantly. Could it be that we are evolving, upgrading, getting more intuitive information, more communications from spirit, more awakenings, more more more at a rate we can hardly catch up with. Compared to the boomers and what came before we are in the throws of a revolution and reclamation of our feelings! This excites me!
If we are going to open the flood gates though, we must also focus on expanding our container. Cultivating the skills to understand feel, cope, process, integrate, heal, and understand the wisdom of not only our own emotions but of others as well is the big IT right now. Its what this is all about. The most important thing we can do right now is ground ourselves, learn how to feel and hold space for all emotions even uncomfortable ones. We MUST take care of our emotional well being. Seek therapy, journal, let emotions guide your day, when the full moon or mercury retrograde hits and everything's is crazy ask “What am I to gain or learn by being confronted with these emotions? “What are my emotions telling me right now?” Do not turn away and dismiss something just cause its hard. The intensity/frequency of your emotions dictate the speed at which you take action. The heavier or the more off we feel the more we need to slow down. Discernment between anxiety and intuition is also of UPMOST importance. I love a quote I read by Luz Astral on the difference between intuition and anxiety.
“Intuition is calm and clear, anxiety is loud and urgent. Intuition speaks once and feels grounded. Anxiety repeats the same fear over and over. Intuition feels like quite knowing. Anxiety feels like racing thoughts. Intuition brings clarity. Anxiety brings confusion. Trust the quiet voice.”
Just reading makes me feel more equipped. Right now more than ANY time its important to take care of our body mind and spirit and to engage in nourishing behavior and activities that connect with the heart as your compass. Don’t numb out, do let the monkey mind take over. Open not only your literal eyes, but the eyes of consciousness of the heart, the spirit, the body. Resist the urge to smooth every rough edge. Let small problems run their course. Sit with your discomforts, maybe even more than with your comforts, tolerate uncertainty, and believe that you can handle what comes next. We aren't given what we can’t handle and still waters don't make a great sailor. So let the heart lead the way, let faith be your fuel, and your community be the support. We’re all in this together.
Do you think being emotional is a good thing? or a bad thing? Are you comfortable with your emotions? What some of your best emotional coping and processing techniques and tips! We can all learn from one another. Please share in the comments.