Emotions are smart messenger that communicate things that are significant. You have to pay attention to what they are telling you. Mostly people try to get rid of emotions- particularly the difficult ones. Ignoring these signals by numbing them doesn’t work and can actually harm us in the long run.
Shunning negative feelings or pretending we don’t feel the way we do can backfire. It is arduous to move past difficult feelings and allow them to lighten while not facing them and trying to understand why we feel that way. You don’t have to reside on your emotions or constantly talk about how you feel. Emotional awareness simply means recognizing, respecting, and accepting your feelings as they happen.
Here are a few rules that you should keep in you mind regarding difficult emotion:
1. They are messengers that have significant information.
2. They do not go away until you listen. Ignoring them or distracting yourself will not let them leave rather, they will echo inside of your body and unconscious mind.
3. They get louder if you do not hear what they have to say.
4. Unprocessed and repressed emotions become toxic for your body and metastasize until it shows up in all parts of your inner and outer life.
5. Every human being has them—some are more aware of them and can manage their relationship with emotions, others are overpowered by them.
6. The goal is not to get rid of difficult emotions but to have a healthy relationship with them.