I see people from all walks of life troubled both personally and professionally. For some it can be difficulty in their mental or emotional life, for others it manifests physically through discomfort, pain or illness. Emotion is an incredibly powerful force but all too often overlooked as the root cause of so many issues. Emotion is potentially mankind’s greatest asset but arguably the least understood. For some though, in the right conditions, stress or disruption, it can be a ticking time bomb.
Through over thirty years and thousands of hours helping clients, I have never strayed from the belief that there is no such thing as negative emotions, just negative ways to relate to them.
Feelings and emotions are often regarded as a weakness, something to control, to rise above and at best a measure to clearly differentiate between good and bad. Many were raised to hold back their feelings, to put a lid on them and to not be so sensitive, but at what cost? Nothing in us exists in isolation and like any other aspect of our humanity our feelings and emotions can affect everything from career to physical health, from relationships to mental health and wellbeing and any other area of life you care to mention. In fact nothing in life is untouched by the effects of our emotions.
It may be comforting to be told that emotions don’t always operate logically, so we shouldn’t apply logic to understand them. Feelings are a part of us that we no longer know how to fully respect. Understanding the complexities and connectivity of our nature helps us to live a contented, fulfilled and healthy life.
We need to explore and understand this nature. Holding back our feelings can have devastating results. Feeling and emotions can get distorted, twisting our view on reality. As well as that, suppression of feeling can lead to sickness and in some cases death.
When we say he died of a broken heart maybe he really did…