Share your feelings today with complete honesty. But don’t share them with someone else – instead, share them with yourself, or with a tree, or your dog or cat. Talk to something that isn’t going to talk back. This is about full expression of what you are feeling, what your dreams are, and being completely honest with how you are really doing.
By not sharing this with someone else, there is no expectation that someone else can fix you, or judge you, or figure things out for you. In reality we stand alone, a product of accumulated experiences that no one else can truly understand. We know how things affect us, how we have felt hurt or let down in the past, or how we have hurt or let down others. Stand naked to the inner you that never needs to be shared with another, and get honest with how you feel.
Action – At best, we maintain a tenuous feeling of control over our experiences and how life happens to us. When things are going well, we assume that we have it all figured out and that if we keep doing what we are doing that nothing bad will ever happen. But life isn’t meant to work like that. It is a never-ending rollercoaster of good news and bad, positive experiences and negative ones, good times and not so good times. It is, after all, life.
When things aren’t going well, remembering that circumstances will always shift and change from one moment to the next can give you the strength to carry on. Even when it seems as though nothing will ever get better, it will. For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction and after every bad storm there is a blue sky. Being honest with yourself about how you are feeling is crucial for maintaining a grip when everything around you seems to be falling apart.
Steps – If you are sad, feel the emotion and acknowledge it. Find out why you feel that way by asking some simple questions. What happened in the world – was it something someone said or did or are you disappointed that things didn’t work out the way you wanted? Get to the root of the feeling and then set an intention that something better is coming your way. Find hope in every thought and be okay with not feeling okay.
It isn’t healthy to force yourself to feel something that isn’t true. Ignoring what is actually going on inside will affect not only your mental health, but your physical health too. When you are sad, all of the cells in your body are sad as well. Don’t hide your real feelings from yourself. Until you can recognize and deal with them, these pent-up emotions will affect every aspect of your life and rob you of the ability to feel real joy.
Why It Makes You Feel Better – We are born with a wide variety of emotions that are part of the human experience. Early in life we are told that certain ones aren’t appropriate, and the lifelong process of stifling how we feel begins. The cost to our health is enormous. The suppression causes stress, harmful behaviours, and addictions.
But at the same time, we need to function in a society that encourages the suppression. You need to be your own champion here. By at least acknowledging to yourself how you are doing, the honesty will allow you to process and release the emotions and to deal with things that aren’t supportive to you.
Example – Talk to a teddy bear or to a plant or even to the sun. Talk about everything that matters to you, all that you are feeling and all that you want from life. Get it all out, and then say thank you. Be thankful that you were able to speak without someone interrupting or telling you how you should feel.
Express yourself to yourself. Be honest, be vulnerable, and be thorough. Say everything out loud, because speaking the words will allow you to hear the truth within. It’s okay to not be okay. Tell it like it is, and then live from where you are. Right now, you are as strong as you need to be.