Welcoming Feelings
Manage episode 387477553 series 3494140
~ • Mysteries of the Feeling Realm - PODCAST 2 • ~
Welcoming Feelings
Meeting feelings is a wildly paradoxical journey! We're so used to "processing" feelings in such intense ways, that we believe that the "intensity" is a natural characteristic of the feeling realm. And that the presence of such intensity must therefor indicate that there is something wrong with us.
Most spiritual traditions see feelings as problematic, and our psychological belief systems (which we've totally swallowed as truth) relate to feelings as indicators of trauma or the result of poor attachment and bad childhoods.
When we treat feelings as if they're problems, they behave in a way that appears to confirm our hypothesis!
So it doesn't occur to us that the way we MEET feelings might actually be creating the intensity, the pain and the solidity of what we think is happening.
When we take just a little step outside of our current paradigm (which is something we want to be doing often!) ... something quite amazing reveals itself.
Just by softening our gaze and our attitude, we can begin to touch what happens when we make space for these awfully timid and distressed feelings.
They (the feelings) instantly notice when we're kind to them. Something immediately shifts in the breath and the intensity of contraction begins to soften.
In the feeling realm, this is something we follow! It's a good indication that feelings are beginning to settle ... and trust us!
The documentary "My Octopus Teacher" is a wonderful metaphor for how to approach the feeling realm. He doesn't pursue the octopus, instead, he begins to swim in her waters and visits her every day for a year. Slowly, over time, he wins her trust and she begins to communicate with him and allow him into her world. A powerful documentary!
We can't fake this kind of intimacy. It's a felt sense in the body.
So how do we enter these waters? How do we change our attitude, shift our attention.
Join Cole and I as we explore this terrain, from our very different bodies of experience.
Enjoy ✨
5 episodes