What Are Emotions?
Emotions are body sensations. For example, anxiety might feel tight and constricted, as though you can’t get a deep breath. Sadness may feel heavy and dense, like a weight pulling you down. Joy, on the other hand, often feels spacious and expansive. Each emotion manifests as a unique set of sensations somewhere in the body.
Some emotions, like joy and love, feel pleasant. Others, like anxiety and sadness, feel uncomfortable. It’s not enjoyable to feel so constricted that we struggle to breathe or so heavy that it feels impossible to move.
Why We Avoid Difficult Emotions
As humans, we are wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain, a mechanism that serves an essential survival function. However, this instinct can be unhelpful when it comes to emotional experiences. In an effort to avoid uncomfortable emotions, we often turn to avoidance behaviors that can be harmful.
For instance, we might drink alcohol excessively, take drugs, spend hours numbing ourselves with screens, disconnect from our bodies, or reach for comfort foods like bread or sugar. While these behaviors might offer temporary relief, they ultimately cause psychological, physiological, and spiritual harm.
A Better Way: Feeling Your Feelings
The alternative to these avoidance behaviors is surprisingly simple: feel your feelings. Even if they are uncomfortable, it is safe to experience your emotions.
Feelings, as body sensations, cannot harm you. A helpful practice is to notice where uncomfortable sensations arise in your body and allow yourself to sit with them. Close your eyes, tune into the sensations, and notice any resistance to doing so.
What you may find is that once the feeling is fully experienced in the body, it will pass or transform into something else. This practice can serve as a healthy alternative to avoidance behaviors, helping you process your emotions in a safe and productive way.
It is safe to feel your feelings.
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