How are you today? ‘fine’, ‘surviving’, ‘not bad’? these used to be my standard responses. It came from a belief that life was about enduring, days ‘got through’, and a strong story around not wanting to be a burden to other people….. Living day to day in survival mode had left me disconnected to how I really felt. On the occasion that big emotions broke through - anger, frustration, sadness - I was at a loss on what to do. So I ignored, denied, telling stories that I ‘shouldn’t be feeling this way, and numbed out. What I didn’t recognise that emotions are simply messages, they can tell us what is important to us, what we want to move towards or away from and what we need. When we ignore, disconnect from or numb out, we deny ourselves these messages, we reduce the likelihood that we will take the action we need to release the emotion. Keeping us stuck, reducing our trust in ourselves and our inner knowing, and limiting our confidence to take bold brave action. Connecting to emotions can lead us to fear overwhelm – labelling emotions as ‘negative’ we can believe that if we are feeling them we are doing something wrong. But what if we choose to see the beauty in our emotions, in our joy and happiness and also in our sadness and sorrow, and allow ourselves to feel them all. And if you are struggling to feel the beauty in our big emotions, check out this beautiful original piece of art work 'Drip' created by the artist Nicola Cairns inspired by our Lit the F* Up event. Connecting to the beauty and release of tears. I absolutely love this image, thank you Nicola for letting me share it here x
Instead of seeing emotions as positive or negative – things we 'should or shouldn’t' feel. I invite you to practice seeing emotions simply as messages to help you take action to live a life more authentically you.
Happiness, connecting you to what feels good, what do you want to create more of?...
Sadness, connecting you to something that might be missing, where could you seek out comfort?...
Anxiety/ fear, connecting you to what feels overwhelming and/or unsafe, how can you create an internal source of safety?...
Anger/ Frustration, connecting you to what isn't right for you, what can you do to move away from a situation?...
Without judgement get curious simply ask yourself what is it that I need right now? If connecting to your emotions is something you struggle with, get in touch and I will send you a recorded mediation to support you. And if you know you are ready to live a life that is more authentically you grab a possibility call with me - I would love to explore what's next!
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