Embracing Our Delicate and Sensitive Emotions

"Throughout our lives, we may experience emotions that disturb or distress us. Often, our first reaction is to push our feelings away. We may say, "I don't want to think about that right now, I'll think about it later" and we bury our emotions, deny the validity of our feelings, or distract ourselves with other concerns. But the diverse emotions you experience are neither good nor bad-they are simply a part being human. Choosing not to experience pain, anger, or other intense feelings could cause those feelings to become buried deep into your physical body. There, they may linger unresolved and unable to emerge, even as they affect the way you experience the world. Allowing yourself to experience all of your emotions rather than push the more painful ones away can help you come to terms with your feelings so you can experience them and then move on."

Instead of pushing away our delicate and sensitive emotions, may we cradle them with love, holding them close to our heart, accepting their human desire to be alive and listening as sweet chirps of hope echo (sometimes silently) throughout our being.

Painting: a detail from With Sturdy Shoes: Mother of One by Barbara Roden
Quote: from Permission To Feel: Pushing Away Emotions at the DailyOm