Emotion in Motion

Emotions  are what makes us human.  They are the “energy” that makes our thoughts visible.  They run our physiology , which means they impact our immune systems, cardiac systems, hormonal systems and our nervous systems.  Emotions drive us.  From what I understand they happen faster than thoughts do.

This is why I believe we have to learn and teach our kids about these things called emotions.  All of them, and I mean all of them serve us in some way to get to know ourselves.

You learn not to act out your emotions, but just to appreciate and acknowledge them. That’s part of the way you can use them spiritually. You don’t deny them, you don’t push them down. You acknowledge that, “I’m angry,” but you don’t have to say, “Hey, I’m angry!” You acknowledge it; you don’t deny it. That’s the key.

Today I had to acknowledge this deeply, that I felt anger, I felt scared.  Trying to articulate this was getting me nowhere fast!  I tried to use my words, but it was as if we were on different planes.  There was what I learned to call a “reality gap”.  This person had no idea of what I was experiencing, and at times , as I perceived it, was making this wrong.

So, I had to take that emotion I called anger, not push it down, not explain it away, or rationalize it or even blame this person for this emotion that was stirring in me.

I had to be with it.  Be with it in a way that this part of me never got. I had to have compassion for it.  I know in the past when i felt anger I put it in motion, expressed it..albeit not in the healthiest most mature way;-).

So, how do we be with these strong emotions, energy in motion?  For me I have learned how very powerful the heart is in transforming this energy, if I am willing to give it over to the heart.   As I sat in my own heart, holding this energy of anger with compassion, little by little taking the significance out of it (the meaning I gave it), I noticed a softening, a warming of the heart a relaxing or balancing in the nervous system.  I came back to what really matters….love.

As I look out into the world…I do see lots of humans in various cultures, races, socio-economic classes, genders etc that are all trying to deal with what makes them angry, or feeling separate from each other or what I believe is separate from Source.  I did in the moments I spoke of above.

What if in these moments we all are a little more willing to drop into our own hearts, warm up the heart? The result is our whole body and brain function better.  We are then more willing to see that each thing that comes our way is truly helping us to grow!!!

I grew a lot today…taking this strong emotion to my heart!