Fear of feelings

Our first instinct is to push away unpleasant or difficult feelings like sadness. But the anticipation of them is far worse. It takes more energy to avoid them than to allow them in.

What’s more, pushing them away means they’ll come back at you like a boomerang on steroids. Because holding them back is like preventing a waterfall from going over the edge.

Over time pent-up feelings build up and can leak out in ugly and unpleasant ways.

Feelings are temporary and denying them isn’t brave or heroic, but cheating yourself out of healing or developing coping skills for managing them.

You can’t make the pain or difficult emotions go away. But you can acknowledge them, reflect on them and lessen your suffering.

Sit with your feelings. Feel your feelings. They are there to be felt and not denied.

You can’t heal if you don’t feel