Sit with your suffering
Our modern society has become both highly emotional as well as detached from their emotions, at the same time. It doesn´t matter where you look everywhere people are emotional about nearly every topic or advocate that you better suppress your emotions. Emotional well-being and mental health are widely spread on social media. Still, mental health issues are rising. So, the question is: How do you deal with your emotions?
Emotions aren´t inherently bad, if you are in touch with them and you know how to interpret and deal with them.
Emotions are feedback from your mind giving you guidance on your behaviour. When you feel happy, satisfied or joyful your mind gives positive feedback about the habits you associate with these emotions. Your mind wants you to do more of these habits. When you are sad and feel down it’s a signal that you maybe have to change your direction or stop certain activities.
The real problem arises when we deal with this feedback in the wrong way. When negative emotions arise, they become shunted aside most of the time. We cope with social media, entertainment, junk food or drugs. We use a band aid for our negative emotions without addressing the root cause. The negative emotions just get side-lined until the coping wears of and they return. Sadness becomes chronic without fixing the problems which lead to these feelings. We end in a vicious cycle of negative emotions and coping. Moreover, the coping isn´t sustainable. We use bad habits as a way to feel better whilst ruining our life’s doing them. The typical cigarette or beer to relax after hard day.
I myself have felt disconnected to my emotional side because I suppressed them. I shunted my emotions to the side instead of welcoming them as part of my life. The key is to welcome emotions back into your life and learn how to deal with them.
In order to get in touch with your emotions try to sit with your suffering, embracing it for it makes you alive. A lot of hardship can be resolved if we put our minds to it. The problem, which produces the feeling, needs a solution but we deprive our mind of a solution by coping. Face the challenge head on. If you solve a problem once it won´t return again. If you become in touch with your negative emotions the positive ones will take of themselves.
Life is an endless cycle you cannot break out of. Nothing truly ever ends and it all comes back in one form or another. You will never be fully satisfied, you will always suffer one way or another, this is life. Embrace your part in this eternal cycle and you will find peace.
Remember, life rewards the prepared.
