Pinpointing Feelings & Emotions to Heal!

‘Love,’ by sculptor Alexander Milov, is a beautiful example of forgiveness as it

“demonstrates a conflict between a man and a woman as well as the outer and inner expression of human nature. Their inner selves are executed in the form of transparent children, who are holding out their hands through the grating. As night falls the children start to shine. This shining is a symbol of purity  and sincerity that brings people together and gives them a chance of making up when the dark time arrives.”

“Emotions are event-driven, while feelings are learned behaviours and are usually in hibernation until triggered by an external event” – in my case the formula to healing can be simplified by understanding that emotions play out in the theatre of the body and feelings play out in the theatre of the mind.

I believe that it is important to understand the difference and the root causes of various emotions so that conscious thought can be utilized. This, followed by deliberate action can guide the response and reaction to a situation in order to maintain a sense of balance. Paying attention to the gaps between emotion, feeling and action can empower each one of us to change and direct our lives.

Having looked at my journey as a whole, I realized that resentment has been the feeling that I continue to drag through life, this almost always manifested in emotions of anger towards my situation and jealousy of others who live lives of abundance. 

To a large extent, in my profession, this feeling is prevalent – resenting being away from the comforts of home, the lack of personal space and the continual need to ‘turn the other cheek’, make it extremely difficult to evoke feelings of happiness based on circumstances – misery ultimately breeds misery, and I found myself on a downward spiral drowning in a mixed bag of negative emotions. 

Don’t forget you are human. 

It’s okay to have a meltdown, just don’t unpack & live there.

Cry it out & then refocus on where you are headed

I realized that for healing to take place I needed to work with the feelings of gratitude and evoke the emotions of love and forgiveness. With that in mind, I stumbled upon an interview on SuperSoul Sunday with Dr Michael Beckwith who describes a simple analogy that made perfect sense regards the progressive nature of life and where I was at – he said …

  “pain pushes until the vision pulls”. 

This was an ‘Aha” moment as I was reminded that the Universe is nudging me to have faith in my vision that is way bigger than my current state – affirming my potential is always greater than this self-loathing, hopeless situation that I have created and the Universe will continue to “wack” me with its “cosmic sledgehammer” until I start to surrender to the pull of possibility.

Such a beautiful reminder that when I wake up in the morning I need to walk in the direction of that purpose instead of being stuck where I am – forgiveness may just be the key that unlocks my “superpower” so that I can diminish the notion that I am a victim and begin to embrace true healing…

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” 

Martin Luther King Jr

Letting go is a choice – liberating the ego and allowing present awareness to be our real self, needs to be our daily practice. To move on we need to declare amnesty with the situation or person we resent and forgive with deliberate forgetfulness, recognizing the lesson as a potential gift –

“The moment you start to resent a person, you become his slave. He controls your dreams, absorbs your digestion, robs you of your peace of mind and goodwill, and takes away the pleasure of your work. He ruins your religion and nullifies your prayers. You cannot take a vacation without his going along. He destroys your freedom of mind and hounds you wherever you go. There is no way to escape the person you resent. He is with you when you are awake. He invades your privacy when you sleep. He is close beside you when you drive your car and when you are on the job. You can never have efficiency or happiness. He influences even the tone of your voice. He requires you to take medicine for indigestion, headaches, and loss of energy. He even steals your last moments of consciousness before you go to sleep. So, if you want to be a slave, harbour your resentments!”          author unknown