It seems like we spend a lot of time trying to censor our feelings, putting on a brave face to present to the world with the hopes that no one will notice what is really going on.
It’s the way we are brought up to be. As a child you struggle to deal with so many things, but when you express your frustration in a very loud way you are disciplined to learn to keep it in.
Children should be seen and not heard. Big boys don’t cry. Good girls shouldn’t scream. Go to your room and don’t come out until you can act like something different than who you are right now.
It’s all well-meant. These bits of guidance we receive from the adults around us help mold us to fit in. To function in society as what is considered normal necessitates us to be quiet, to use our indoor voices, and not to have tantrums in public.
The people who act out are labelled as mentally ill. They are unable to play the game the correct way so they don’t get to be in it. We shut them away, or medicate them, or allow them to attempt to survive as homeless wanderers as we step over them in the street.
For the rest of us, we become very good at bottling up how we feel. We see injustices around us, and maybe we donate money to good causes in an off-handed way to help. As long as we don’t have to do the dirty work, we support these organizations and then allow ourselves to feel good that we are so benevolent.
Meanwhile, inside there is a storm brewing. Our feelings can only be held in for so long.
Repressed emotions manifest in many clinical ways, sometimes as physical illness, other times as anxiety or other psychological disorders, and most commonly in self-medicated ways. We drink alcohol, take drugs – both legal and illegal – gamble, shop, have affairs, and do countless other things to get us away from having to deal with what is going on inside.
We are literally choking on our own feelings in an effort to keep them hidden. What we don’t acknowledge, we don’t have to deal with.
How is this working so far?
You owe it to yourself to get to know you. This might sound kind of silly, but if you aren’t capable of allowing your true emotions to show then you will never know what they are.
Your energy and point of attraction will bring into your life a reflection of who you are. What is around you will tell you a great deal about what you subconsciously believe.
If you are surrounded by lack, then you have a scarcity consciousness. You believe that there is only so much to go around and that you don’t deserve more, that it is greedy and selfish to want more than what you already have. Rich people are the worst, money is evil, and life is unfair. All of these charged beliefs can be unearthed if you look around and see that you aren’t living the life you want.
Unless you choose it, this lifetime does not have to be about continual suffering.
You can begin life in a state of lack through no fault of your own, being born into poverty and the belief of scarcity. What you do with these early lessons will ultimately determine who you can be the rest of your life.
Kids might turn to gangs, or they may turn to studying. They work at becoming athletes, or they fall in with trying to make easy money at the expense of others in a life of crime. Choices are made when they are really too young to be able to make such important decisions.
Having positive role models is important for all of us. Know that the way it has always been doesn’t need to be the way it will always be.
Recognizing and allowing the deepest beliefs and emotions that you keep locked up is the beginning. Getting help if you need to process it is next.
Don’t always feel that you need to fight the biggest battles of your life alone.