Difficult Feelings Are A Sign You’re On The Right Track

Did you know?

The capacity to feel and express feelings is essential to living a full human life. But many of us have a lot of old rules about what’s OK to feel. Fear, shame, rage or hatred seldom make it on the Top 100 list.

That’s quite a dilemma, if opening to the whole range of human existence is the only path to true happiness. (It is.)

Feeling good is overrated, anyway. My interest is in learning how to show up for whatever I’m feeling, sensing, facing, moving with.

How to be with others whatever they’re feeling, dealing, dancing with.

How to find resource, practice, support for facing life as is, with all its beauty and terror.

“Happy happy, joy joy” is not among the promises of my practice. My intention, rather, is to support feeling more (i.e. opening to the whole enchilada) rather than feeling better.

In order to benefit it helps if you’re open to feeling, and have some aptitude for body sensing plus inner permission to experience a range of emotion.

MYTH: The aim of inner work is to get rid of negative feelings (this one really gets me), heal your issues, and live in ecstasy ever after.

Good news is, there are no negative feelings… only rejected, repressed, ignored, pent up, culturally vilified ones.I couldn’t care less about ecstatic states anymore. What I care about is deep contact with my experience.

The etymology of the word ‘ecstatic’ is ‘standing outside’. Me, I want to stand inside.

The other thing I care about is being present and loving in relationship with myself, others, god, the world.

You?