Feeling Without Falling...

Feeling Without Falling...

We are taught almost everything about success. But very little about the self. We learn how to build a résumé, how to crack an interview, how to speak on stage, how to negotiate a salary. Nobody sits us down at nineteen and says “You will feel things. Big things. Inconvenient things. Things that arrive without knocking and refuse to leave. Learn to understand and be better able to live with them.” 

Over the years, I have met people who were brilliant but burdened - sharp minds carrying exhausted hearts. And the pattern repeats itself with a strange loyalty, emotions that are ignored turn into stress and emotions that are understood turn into strength. 

Honestly, every feeling or emotion is a messenger. Most of us shoot the messenger and then wonder why we never got the message. And that's what this post is about - understanding the language of our emotions.

SMILE: There is still room for kindness here. Give it away freely. It is the only currency that grows when you send it

PEACE: Stop. Just for a minute. You are allowed. Clarity rarely arrives while you are running. It waits for you to sit down

LOVE: Express it. Connect. Show up. Love does not always come with a label or a category. Sometimes the deepest bonds in your life are the ones that never got a name.

JEALOUSY: You want something and you have not admitted it. It is not a character flaw. It is an unopened letter addressed to you, from you.

DISAPPOINTMENT: Your expectation and your reality are standing too far apart. It is not always a signal to lower your hopes. Sometimes it is a signal to loosen your grip

SHAME: You acted out of line with who you want to be. Listen to it — then repair and let it go. Shame that leads to change is useful. Shame that leads only to hiding is just cruelty wearing a serious face.

FEAR: This matters to you. We are rarely afraid of things we do not care about. Follow the fear and you will usually find something worth doing.

REGRET: You have grown since then. You cannot regret a choice unless you now know better — which means the regret itself is proof of your growth.

SADNESS: Something mattered. Do not rush it. Grief is not a problem to be solved. It is love, still looking for its address.

ANXIETY: You are on the edge of something important. Adrenaline does not know the difference between excitement and terror. You get to decide what you call it.

ANGER: A boundary has been crossed. Hold the reaction. But do respond. Ask what line was crossed — and whether you ever told anyone the line was there.

EMBARASSMENT: You care what people think. Everybody does. The truth- they are all too busy being embarrassed to notice you

LONLINESS: You want to be known, not just noticed. The cure is not more people. It is more truth with fewer people.

GRATITUDE: You missed something. Joy is not a reward for a perfect day. It is a decision to notice the good bits of an imperfect one.

Which emotion from these did you recognize immediately in yourself and why that one? 

#GETSETGO