I loved this article - SO common, so human, so important. We all go through this gauntlet of uncertainty, confusion, anxiety and fear. And there is nothing wrong with it. What’s unfortunate is that we think there is something wrong with us. Just the opposite, there’s everything right. Polly is spot on - our bodies are the key to informing us of our need to allow our feelings. These emotions inform us as to how connected we are to our Truth - what’s in alignment with “who we truly are”. Each of us has our unique path and talents to offer and we need the quiet to be able to listen to our inner voice, our Intuition, so we can take inspired steps in that direction instead of fearful reactive ones. Yes, it’s totally helpful to get plenty of sleep, eat nourishing food, drink water, take walks in nature and sit with your monkey mind. Give this jumbled, tangled mess some room and space - just observe and allow. Breathe into it and you will come to find that the noise gets less and less over time. Underneath most of the noise are feelings of “not being enough”. This can certainly come from messages we were told when young either by our parents, teachers or our culture. There is this compulsion to compare ourselves to images that are not even realistic. If we are always judging and criticizing ourselves, we are also doing that to others. How can we then create genuine relationships with ourselves and others? I have personally learned after 63 years of living, that the most important aspect of life is to love, accept and forgive yourself and from that place within, all else naturally unfolds. But it’s a process - one that needs quiet and listening to your heart - not the story your mind likes to tell.
My take was that it's not something you have to do consciously or deliberately unless you're maladjusted in the way of the aspirational loner. I feel like there's an interesting distinction made by the author between emotion and meta-emotion; that the anxiety about confronting your underlying emotions is something all together different. Thanks for posting, I loved the writing:
Instead, you’re feeding yourself empty chatter, empty dramatic narratives, empty scrolling text, and pouring wine over the whole thing so that it melts together and becomes a blob of anxious nothingness by the next day.
I think the answer is time. Time and attention and focus - things that often seem to be in short supply. I am by no means an expert on this stuff, but I do think about these topics often. Intention matters. I go on several unplugged walks per day. I don’t specifically set out to “feel the feelings” but I know it’s happening as it’s happening. And sometimes I can identify the unnecessary thoughts (“I’m fucking everything up”) with productive ones (“I’ve chosen a tough path. If it wasn’t tough, I’d be even less happy. Working hard will make me feel better.”)
I loved this article - SO common, so human, so important. We all go through this gauntlet of uncertainty, confusion, anxiety and fear. And there is nothing wrong with it. What’s unfortunate is that we think there is something wrong with us. Just the opposite, there’s everything right. Polly is spot on - our bodies are the key to informing us of our need to allow our feelings. These emotions inform us as to how connected we are to our Truth - what’s in alignment with “who we truly are”. Each of us has our unique path and talents to offer and we need the quiet to be able to listen to our inner voice, our Intuition, so we can take inspired steps in that direction instead of fearful reactive ones. Yes, it’s totally helpful to get plenty of sleep, eat nourishing food, drink water, take walks in nature and sit with your monkey mind. Give this jumbled, tangled mess some room and space - just observe and allow. Breathe into it and you will come to find that the noise gets less and less over time. Underneath most of the noise are feelings of “not being enough”. This can certainly come from messages we were told when young either by our parents, teachers or our culture. There is this compulsion to compare ourselves to images that are not even realistic. If we are always judging and criticizing ourselves, we are also doing that to others. How can we then create genuine relationships with ourselves and others? I have personally learned after 63 years of living, that the most important aspect of life is to love, accept and forgive yourself and from that place within, all else naturally unfolds. But it’s a process - one that needs quiet and listening to your heart - not the story your mind likes to tell.
There's some good stuff in here. I am left with the thought, how do you "feel the feelings" like she describes? What does that mean?
My take was that it's not something you have to do consciously or deliberately unless you're maladjusted in the way of the aspirational loner. I feel like there's an interesting distinction made by the author between emotion and meta-emotion; that the anxiety about confronting your underlying emotions is something all together different. Thanks for posting, I loved the writing:
Wow. Powerful.
I think the answer is time. Time and attention and focus - things that often seem to be in short supply. I am by no means an expert on this stuff, but I do think about these topics often. Intention matters. I go on several unplugged walks per day. I don’t specifically set out to “feel the feelings” but I know it’s happening as it’s happening. And sometimes I can identify the unnecessary thoughts (“I’m fucking everything up”) with productive ones (“I’ve chosen a tough path. If it wasn’t tough, I’d be even less happy. Working hard will make me feel better.”)