Comfortably Numb….
The way to prevent “feeling” is to numb out yet it’s only a temporary band-aid that never resolves our problems yet only makes them worse.
We are blessed to have our various, contrasting emotions. Without them we would not have an indication of how our lives are going. Our emotions let us know if our lives are working or not. Yet, although we embrace the good feeling emotions we deny embracing and allowing our not so good feeling emotions to exist.
We like to find ways to numb ourselves when we aren’t feeling so good yet uncomfortable emotions are an opportunity to pay attention to what we are feeling to trace where it is stemming from. Once we see where the emotion originated from we then have a golden opportunity to listen to that little voice in our head telling us something that helped create the experience of the very emotion we are trying to avoid feeling. Allowing that emotion to be and expressing it in a safe and constructive way helps clear away the debris that locks us in and blocks us from transforming it into something good.
Checking out with food, alcohol, sugar, shopping, the internet, cell phones, TV and other non-productive distractions are avenues we choose when we don’t want to deal with something. I often tell my clients as well as myself: “The only way to it is through it”. The only way we can get through what we are feeling and reconnect to the good stuff we seek in life is to confront what is causing our emotional dis-ease before it turns into physical disease.
When we confront our problems we are taking back our power instead of giving it away to numbing activities. We are also handsomely rewarded when we do this because we not only find a solution through it but we re-discover who we trulyare: courageous and strong. This leads us to peace and completion, healing and freeing us for the future.
There are various ways to delve into what is upsetting us so we can work through it. Meditation, communing with nature, talking to friends and family, journaling, consulting a professional advisor are some of the ways we can allow others to help us find our light. When we make it through what we are here to pay attention to and learn, we can move past the issue once and for all, putting it and keeping it in the past – where it belongs. Through the practice of confronting our issues we grow wiser, stronger and more confident in confronting the next set of life’s challenges. Yes, it’s very possible to grow to the point where we even welcome the challenges in life because we know we are that powerful to transform our situations and our emotions fearlessly!