Many of us were raised to suppress strong “negative” emotions such as anger, rage, or grief. At a young age, we were told that those feelings were unseemly and unladylike, and needed to be pushed aside. In order to maintain our connections with others, we turned from these very fundamental pieces of ourselves or tried to keep them at bay. Consequently, we missed out on the opportunity to let the emotional cycle complete. We have held onto shame when these emotions kick in – and these wounds fester even if we were successful in masking that fact from others.
The truth is, these emotions have a lot of wisdom to share with us. They are still there inside us waiting to be seen and appreciated, and if we turn toward them without trying to “fix” them, we can reclaim much of the power that we’ve been using to keep them hidden away. We might even find ourselves opening to ourselves and others more generously. I shared some of my thoughts and experiences around turning toward difficult emotions as a path to embracing love at the Center for Spiritual Living in Kansas City.
