The problem with supressing your emotions The vulnerable space of emotions is where we connect through empathy and shared experience to our authentic selves and other people. Like feeling hungry guides you to eat, experiencing emotions direct you to make decisions to meet the needs it’s calling out.Įmotions connect us to ourselves and to others

Some scientists believe that the full mind-body response of our emotions evolved as a way to ensure our safety and survival throughout the years.Įmotions communicate our needs and what’s important to usĮmotions indicate a need for something in our lives, and the intensity of the emotion often (but not always) relates to how much it matters to us.Įmotions drive us into action and guide the decisions we make Emotions both move the body and inform the mind. Or, if you have more of a ‘science’ mind, think of them as data points indicating what you might need more or less of in your life. A way of giving feedback on what’s happening around you and how your body “feels” about it, given your specific set of experiences. It helps to think of emotions as the language of your body. So what are these important messages? What’s the point of emotions? What’s more? We lose out on the important messages they carry and functions they serve. They end up causing us stress or bubbling over in inappropriate ways. While no one could claim it's fun to feel emotions like fear, grief, or anger, ignoring them doesn’t work. And the “doing whatever we can to avoid them” side. And it seems like most of us fall on the “not liking” side. We all have them, whether we like it or not. Here’s your guide to re-relating to-and actually processing-your emotions.Įmotions. Most of us know that feeling our feelings is important, but we don’t know why and we especially don’t know how.

Getting in touch with emotions