Emotions are like breathing... or not?

Do you recognize that part of yourself that always has an opinion about how you “should or shouldn’t feel”? I guess we all recognize it. Instead of becoming critical to ourselves, let's explore together a little bit this idea of obstructing our emotions. How do we actually do it? Here are some common examples:

- minimizing our emotions (“it’s not a big thing what happened, I’m not sad at all”)

- judging our emotions (“it’s not ok to cry, I’m a man and men don’t cry”)

- comparing them with other people’s emotions (“she’s more calm than me, I should be stronger, not that sensible)

- suppressing emotions (“I shouldn’t be so angry, I must drink/smoke/watch something to calm down”)

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Is it possible to let our emotions exist just like breathing and integrate them into our life, without resistance? By suppressing our emotions, they only become stronger and create blockages that could even lead to disorders or to moods that we can’t manage anymore. Therefore, let’s prevent these situations by starting:

- identifying our emotions (this way, our brain and body know how to approach them)

- expressing our emotions (laugh, cry, etc)

- sharing emotions with people that we trust

- being curious to know how our emotions function

- learning to sit with our emotions and not trying to “solve” them or run away from them

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I invite you to enjoy a short exercise: pay attention to yourself right now and try to identify the feeling or mood that you have. And just stay with it for a couple of seconds, without judging - just breathe and observe. Congratulations! You just took a step towards a less threatening emotional life!