135. Feel It to Heal It.

Lives of Courage with Jessica Stong

One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in this life - and that I keep needing to relearn - is that if you don’t feel your emotions, they will begin to spill out all over the place.
Imagine picking up your emotions and stuffing them into a backpack. A cute, brightly colored, designer backpack, but a backpack nonetheless.
You place your emotions in there because you don’t want to feel the pain or maybe you don’t have time or the tools. So you begin collecting emotions.
And the bag gets very heavy. You also notice that a few of the seams are starting to rip a bit. So you reinforce it, but you still keep stuffing more in.
And suddenly, your bag breaks. You’re probably in the middle of a store or some other crowded place.
Your emotions all spill out. You can’t help it now. They’re all there. So you pick them up and carry them around without anything to contain them.
This might be you. You might be having all the feelings spill out all over the place. You’re so raw and unfiltered because it’s all too much. It is uncomfortable and disorienting. And you also might be thinking that you're sick of over-feeling at this point. But just hang on with me.
You have to feel it all. All of it. As Carl Jung says - and I’m paraphrasing - “what we resist, persists.”
And here’s the deal. I want to give you the tools to process your emotions so you don’t have to stuff anything down ever again.
Learning to feel your emotions is one of the most important skills you will ever learn. Feel it to heal it, sweet friend.
Can you imagine what the world would be like if we were all processing our emotions instead of distracting or overreacting to them?

So I hope you enjoy today's episode. I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments - feel free to email me at [e-mail].

You can also find me at jessicastong.com or on the socials at @livesofcourage XOXOX