Emotions as a Healing Tool

4 March 2010

Behind every cloud there is a bright lining.

I have been asked recently – how to use emotions to help heal.  Emotions are like a live spark of our being.  They arise directly from the subconscious, bypassing our conscious mind and its jabber of thoughts.   They arise in the present moment and carry the energy of the subconscious thought or belief  from which they originate.

Our tendency is to suppress the painful or unpleasant emotions or feelings, avoid or deny them by overriding them with rational thoughts such as –  ‘It’s shameful to cry in front of others.’ ‘I just have to be strong.’ ‘My life’s not that bad.’
However, if we stay with them, allow ourselves to feel them fully, a number of outcomes are possible –
1)    the pain or distress subsides and we feel refreshed, relieved somehow of a burden.   Recall the saying – ‘tears are healing’.
2)    the emotion shifts into another emotion, and when we allow that full expression, it may transmute into another and another like a cascade.   This process has been described as  peeling off the layers of the emotional onion.  It is more of a dropping down through layers.
3)    there is an opening to clarity about the feeling or emotion and to the subconscious thought from which it originates – what is described as a ‘aha’ moment.   This ‘aha’ moment may be linked to a memory or flashback to an early emotional event.  Now that we have access to the subconscious thought or belief – ‘the old story’ – we can get the impact of that.  With that awareness comes the power to choose what we want for ourselves rather than be held in reaction mode by the subconscious story.   With this comes the moment of transformation, of healing.

What you don’t know controls you.

What you do know changes you.

Emotions are the doorway and the path to healing.  With some guidance and support, you can learn from them and move through them to another level of awareness and well-being.