What keeps us from acknowledging and processing our feelings–particularly the uncomfortable and painful ones?
Especially during this time, when change and uncertainty are all around us, it is important to explore this idea and take a look at the feelings that challenge us.
Over the many years I have been coaching, I have noticed a theme in painful feelings: whether it’s fear, anxiety, disappointment or hopelessness. Most people do not want to acknowledge or feel them. All of us can understand why these feelings can be neglected, ignored or avoided–they are painful.
What’s important to know is that emotional pain is a warning telling us something is not right. We need to invest the time to slow down and examine what we are feeling.
In avoiding this process, we often distract ourselves and find ways to numb our pain. The pain doesn’t ever really go away when we do this.
The key to moving on is to realize that your feelings are messages. You are feeling them for a reason. When you process and acknowledge your feelings–even the ones that are prickly and uncomfortable–you can get through them. The way out is through.
Once your feelings are identified and acknowledged, you have created the space for them to be what they are–just passing clouds with no judgement.
“A Technique for Feeling Painful Feelings” by Margarita Tartakovsky, M.A. explains a simple technique that will allow you to understand your feelings, learn how to accept them, and deal with them creatively.
As a life coach, I am here to help my clients work through their feelings when the process becomes too difficult to handle alone. Let me know if I can be helpful to you. Remember, to move forward, we need to address what is right in front of us.
