A Sensory Understanding

The word feel as a verb or a noun can be reduced to the same meaning and ultimately that is: to have a sensory experience of something. In one way it is an action and in another way it is an internal understanding.

I spent most of my 20’s fighting my emotions or deflecting them. This is what we are often conditioned to do. Does this resonate in any way with you?

You see, feelings can FEEL messy sometimes. Why? They feel messy because they are SO big (energetically powerful) and we are not really taught how to express them nor do we sometimes feel safe expressing our feelings. Now fast forward to the reality that you are an adult and well you may have spent most your life not communicating with a very HUGE part of YOU. In fact, I bet you have a better relationship with your friends’ feelings than you do your own. This happens a lot! I think becasue we forget. We forget that we are Spiritual beings having a physical being experience.

If we consciously choose, we can allow these feelings of ours to become a guide to understanding ourselves deeper. You may remember that this is what Carl Jung referred to as Shadow Work.When we start getting a grasp of our feelings then we can allow them to become a compass for our consciousness!

When we have a compass with us on a journey we are sure to arrive at our destination. No matter how rough the terrain, we KNOW that we will be able to find our way there. You see, your feelings are your guide in this human being experience. They are there to remind you to check in and ask yourself…is this really true for me? Does this feeling really line up with who I say I am? You see a compass works by responding to the Earth’s magnetic field.

Your emotions are just like that needle repsonding to the magnetic field except they are responding to YOUR magnetic field. Your emotions are telling you exactly where you have a block in your energy. See, as above so below, this is a universal law. (More about this in the next email!)

If you can start paying attention to those feelings of yours and allowing them to guide you then you are going to be able to dig deeper and go beyond the immediate response. When you start doing this you are going to start expanding in ways you never even imagined. So how do you dig deeper?

Step 1 Identify and become aware:

• What feelings/sensations do I have?

• Where in my body am I feeling it? in my chest? throat? stomach?

• What thoughts am I having that indicate what I might be feeling?

• Are there any contradicting thoughts / feelings?

• Do I have any judgments on the thoughts/feelings I have?

• Am I having any urges to suppress/move away from these feelings? Why?

Step 2 Staying with the feeling and acceptance:

• Is this feeling (s) intolerable?

• Why do I think it is intolerable?

• Do I think something bad will happen if I allow this feeling? What?

• How bad is it on a scale of 1 to 10?

• What can I do to tolerate this state? (breathe / relax / stay still?)

Step 3 Understanding in order to take action:

• Are there any needs that are going unmet? (ie do I feel misunderstood / unheard / disrespected?

• Has a boundary been violated by someone?

• Has a value been compromised?

• What is my contribution to this distress?

• Am I falling into old behaviour patterns?

• Is this emotional distress as a result of distorted thinking?

• Is this emotion the triggering of childhood memories?

• Is this distress a result of me not accepting my feeling or judging it as wrong?

• Is this distress from a build-up of different events?

Step 4-last step! Process the emotion:

• Address distorted thinking-why are you thinking this way

• Assert yourself with someone-speak your truth

• Re-establish a boundary

• Let the feeling pass-surrender

• Express your thoughts and feelings to someone or through journaling

• Re-align yourself with your values and take corrective action.

• Do the opposite of what your urge is (ie if it is to isolate and sleep – go and take a walk or talk to someone.)

• Apologise or make amends to someone

Have fun being the explorer of your emotions. Allow your internal compass of consciousness to guide you.I know that if you are willing to dig deeper you are going to learn something really valuable to effect the change that you desire in your life and the world. Remember your TRUE NORTH and you will surely find your way to the heart of it ALL.

xoxox

Akasha