Listening always comes first. When we listen to, are present with, and don’t run away or discount our emotions, we gain valuable insight. At the end of any emotional energy is insight: information that tells us what to do next and how to do it.
Energy is the information that guide us, and human beings experience energy through emotions. Emotions come in every color. From depression, despondence, joy, love and everything in between.
When we are able to be really present with emotions, both difficult and not-so-difficult ones, we find at the end a code that tells what to do and what not to do.
It’s like Cracker Jacks. There is a toy in the box but it’s not at the beginning; it’s always at the bottom. You have to go through your emotions to get the information.
The big challenge here is that human beings don’t like pain, discomfort, or any emotion that we think is wrong or bad. So our thinking tries to distract us away from the unwanted emotion. We cope with negative emotions in a myriad of ways: we eat too much, drink too much, watch TV or stay glued to our iPhone, trying to mentally figure it out. If, instead, we just feel the energy of the emotion, we will know what to do and with what timing.
For example, just today I spoke with a client who told me how miserable she was feeling. She’s a single mother and has been taking care of her daughter every weekend for the past few months. She realized how stuck and exhausted she felt and that she could be hiring out some of her tasks to better manage her life.
She was so miserable and spent. She realized she could hire somebody to get a newsletter done, and get a service to cook healthy meals. She realized she could hire a babysitter for a couple hours on the weekend.
She said that people have told her all her life to hire out tasks, but it wasn’t until she felt how miserable she was that the insight came to her.
That's the power of feeling the emotion. It’s pretty interesting. All of a sudden emotions feel really different to me, and they will to you too. Ask yourself: what am I feeling, and what does it have to tell me?
If you would like to get curious about your emotions and what they are telling you, and really experience them, please give me a call. I’d love to help you dive in to discover what your emotions are trying to tell you.