Feelings as Allies
What would it look like if you could feel your feelings and use them to assist you? I know you're really good at using happy and excited feelings like that already. And some even use anger in productive ways. For me it was mad or angry cleaning. I would get so mad or angry at things I find even to this day rapidly cleaning the whole house. Scrubbing dishes so much I thought I was going to scrub a hole through them. Someone asks me to do something I don’t want to do. I felt I needed to do it then in the process find myself getting mad about “having to do” whatever it was. It really helps with things like digging holes and lifting weights. The mad and anger gave me more momentum to get the job done. Now I ask you, can you do the same with anxiety and fear?
Oh I just felt everything tighten up and shift in that second when I said that. If you're like most others that I work with, this is where they give me that “you’re crazy” look. And/or say “no I don’t want to feel that way, I don’t like it” I’ve even worked through my own depression and much deeper feelings by using my emotions as my allies.
This is where I usually use the metaphor……. So let’s say for this story that you have a parent and a child. Let’s say there in the store and the parent is talking to someone about something, the child feels the need to start tugging on the parents clothes saying hey mom, hey mom, mom, mom (now what happens next in some cases?) Some kids will go as far to throw themselves down on the ground kicking and screaming to get the parents attention they will do all that they can do to be heard. Well I feel that your feelings are doing that on the inside. Your inner fear or anxiety is tugging saying hey, hey, hey, listen to me!!!! Feel me!!!!! I have found in my own experience and have found others that agree that if we allow that part of us to be witnesses in the way it needs it can settle down and we can work with it. Creating harmony with it and actually using it to help propel us forward, by giving each emotion a new purpose.
Let’s face it, how many times has anxiety, depression and other emotions held you back from doing things? I myself have and seen a lot of people go to great lengths, not far from throwing themselves down in the ground kicking and screaming to avoid feeling a certain way.
So what does this look like for you? Could it feel better for you to explore this process with me deeper in a session?