Your feelings aren't the enemy…they're messengers

I was recently reading "101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think" by Brianna Wiest, and her insights on feelings stopped me in my tracks.

So many of us (clients and therapists alike) resist feeling our emotions because we're terrified we'll get stuck there. What if I sink into sadness and never climb out?

But Wiest puts it perfectly; "Sadness will not kill you. Depression won't either. But fighting it will... Trying to change how you feel is like finding a road sign that points in the opposite direction of where you had intended to go and getting out to try to turn the sign, rather than the course of action."

We fear going deep because we believe there are monsters waiting in the darkness. But here's what I've learned; beneath the anger, sadness, guilt, and shame, beneath all those protective layers we wrapped around ourselves to survive, lives our core self.

That core self is compassionate, creative, curious, connected, courageous, confident, clear, and calm.

Your feelings aren't working against you. They're trying to deliver a message from the part of you that wants nothing more than to love you endlessly.

What would change if you started listening instead of fighting?