When you feel big emotions coming — when your chest gets tight and your eyes well up with tears — what do you next? Do you shut it down? Hold it in? Not here, not now, not in front of THEM.
Of course, there are certain times when having a full-blown cathartic release would not be appropriate, but suppressing emotions often has the opposite of your desired effect. You think it will make the feeling go away, but then it gets stronger to get your attention.
Giving yourself the space and safety you need to really feel and move through your emotions is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. This could be a journal, a trusted (and capable) friend, a therapist or ample time in stillness.
And sometimes, it could be that you just need a good ol’ ugly cry.
When is the last time you felt safe enough to let it all out?
Enlightenment is not the absence of problems… enlightenment is holding your problems with as much grace as you do your successes — knowing that both are temporary.
It’s all fleeting. The pleasure, the pain, the joy, the sorrow — it comes and it goes.
Each of these emotions is here to teach us something. We would be wise to sit with them, feel them and ultimately love them instead of stifling them down.
Emily did an exercise on meeting pain with love in a recent Global Meditation. Afterward, we were overwhelmed by the comments from people saying they felt lighter, their back pain was easing up, they finally allowed themselves to let go.
We pulled out the exercise for you so you can practice it whenever you need to release. You can find it in both video and audio below.
There’s a quote that we love from Khalil Gibran. He says, “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”
So the next time you’re feeling upset, can you choose to meet the pain with love? No matter how big the feelings are, can you remind yourself that your capacity for love is greater than the pain?
Don’t wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.