Experiencing Feeling Will Heal You
In our world, experiencing difficult feelings causes many people to panic. We were not taught to experience the sensations in our body when feelings are bubbling around.
When people see other people feel too much, they suggest they see their doctor and consider getting a prescription for a pill to stop that feeling.
Anti depressants and anti anxiety medication can be supportive for the short term if the feelings bubbling up are too overwhelming to function. But they must be combined with counseling to get to the source of where those deep feelings are coming from. And learning to allow them expression can be a project when all the teaching beforehand was to keep them bottled up.
Feelings that happen as the result of an event or a difficult relationship are often buried or suppressed in the nervous system.
5 Simple ways to tolerate the sensations and feelings:
Notice where in your body you are experiencing a sensation.
Acknowledgement. Tip your hat to the feeling as if it were just another pedestrian on a busy street. Just say hello without judgement or fear.
BREATH... use your breath to allow that feeling to be present without a story attached to it.
Lean In With Presence. See how long you can just sit with that feeling being present before you want to run for the hills. Each time see if you can grow that tolerance by either seconds or minutes before you move into distraction or avoidance.
I'm Safe. Remind yourself that all feelings are experienced in your body as a sensation and it actually doesn't mean that anything is wrong or dangerous.
Using these tools consistently will allow you to gain greater understanding of your feelings and be able to sit with your feelings and other people's feelings more securely. Sometimes it's not about changing a feeling at all, but just allowing it to have space to be seen, felt and heard.
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