“Thinking positive” may not always work

Dealing with emotions is probably the most difficult balancing act that we experience in our lives.  When we spend too much time and effort avoiding emotions, we are in denial.  When we spend too much time trying to fight them, we are angry and resentful.  When we exert too much energy taking advantage of the power and leverage these feelings can bring us, we become stuck and blind to the situation we are creating for ourselves.   To embrace the paradox that feeling pain, releases pain, such that there is a freedom in sitting with our emotions, is to allow a greater awareness of the whole self to be seen. 

I wanted to share this insightful blog post that I read this morning from Fractal Enlightenment.

 

Emotions are an inevitable part of the human experience. They can have us on top of the world or in the depths of despair, but if nothing else, they remind us that we are alive. Usually, “good” emotions are welcomed with open arms into our life experience, while perceived “bad” emotions are avoided at all costs. People use anything from drugs & alcohol to denial to avoidance to blame, all just to protect themselves from having to feel anything.

Very often we are given the advice to just, “think positive”, “be happy” or “stay optimistic” when we are experiencing hard to deal with emotions. While this advice may sound wonderful in theory, (because, let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want to just be happy and upbeat ALL the time?) it may not always be the healthiest option. In order to successfully move through a tough emotion, the emotion itself must be not only acknowledged but actually FELT.

How ironic. The one thing that people try to duck, dive and avoid at all costs (feeling the emotion) is the one thing that will set them free and resolve it. Denying the emotion is happening will keep it bubbling just under the surface, while observing it without judgement and feeling it to completion will actually make it subside…

 

The link to the whole post is below.

http://fractalenlightenment.com/30245/life/when-thinking-positive-doesnt-seem-to-be-working