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Hey there! Does your emotional vocabulary look like this: ✔️ I’m fine. ✔️ I’m mad. ✔️ I’m happy. ✔️ I’m OK. ✔️ I’m sad. ✔️ No, really, I’m fine. ✔️ I’m frustrated. ✔️ Ugh, I don’t even know what I feel! Reader, you’re not alone. And when you’re feeling a strong aversion to, frustration with, or fondness of something or someone, do you do any of these: ❌Avoid it. ❌Shut or stuff it down. ❌Tell yourself you’re not really feeling that way or that you shouldn’t feel that way. ❌Turn to food or substances. ❌Call or message your best friend and complain to them about why you’re being wronged. ❌Cross your arms and pout, isolating yourself from everyone? Again, Reader, you’re not alone, and it’s OK. Part of what makes life feel heavy in the day-in and day-out is that we often resist the body’s innate need to actually feel and express our emotions. We’ve been taught somewhere along the road (likely to no fault of whomever raised us or to ourselves for processing things the way our immature minds did when we were younger) to suppress, minimize, or all together ignore the emotions that we feel because… 😕”It’s not proper,” or… 😕”It might hurt someone else’s feelings if you share that,” or… 😕”Your emotions are just too big and scary, and I can’t handle them,” or… 😕”You’ll make a scene if you cry.” But here’s the thing my beautiful friends, emotions are what make up a large part of us. We pair them with our mind’s wisdom to inform how we move through this life and how we make decisions. But when we avoid them or ignore them they remain in our bodies as stuck energy that needs to go somewhere. And that stuck energy can cause anything from muscle tension and soreness to actual disease within the body… all because of emotions. Emotions stem from our heart, which, in yoga is considered our 4th chakra (energetic center). We have 7 chakras, beginning at the base of the spine and working up to the crown of the head, and some believe that if any one of these is blocked, the flow of energy can’t extend upward to the rest of the chakras, limiting your ability to fully experience true contentment or blissfulness. Enlightenment aside, not acknowledging your emotions keeps you from thriving in your own health, harmony and happiness and living authentically as your best self. If we don’t even have the vocabulary to name what it is we’re feeling inside, how are we ever going to get to that point of thriving? Enter… How We Feel*.
A beautifully simple app to help you understand and connect with your emotions. *I’m absolutely NOT selling anything in this email… the app is free and I receive no kickbacks for sharing it with you. I simply love how it as changed my life and know it can enrich yours too. I’ve tried other “emotion wheel” apps, and this is the one that actually has cultivated greater connection not only with myself, but also with my husband, which ultimately, translates to greater health, harmony and happiness in my life.❤️ In the most recent episode of Health Harmony and Happiness with Cathy, I interview The How We Feel Project’s only full-time employee, James Reagan, to get his take on why an app like this is needed in this world and how it’s different than other health and well-being apps. Check out the full episode here. Emotional Intelligence can be a tricky thing, but it doesn’t have to be. The first step is always awareness, and the more often you pause to acknowledge your emotions instead of ignoring, stuffing, eating or drinking them, the easier it gets. Your vocabulary grows for what you actually are feeling, and you might even decide you’re ready to work through some of the hard emotions or places you tend to regularly get stuck. You eventually begin to heal the hurt in your heart and allow the flow of emotional energy to move through you more fully. And you might even build deeper social connections along the way. Now, I’d say that’s absolutely what embodying health, harmony and happiness and living as your authentic best self is all about, and I can’t wait to celebrate with you when life starts to feel lighter and less stressful, all because you’re recognizing your emotions more completely. Cheers, Cathy P.S. Class is back in session – both virtual breathwork and in-person yoga + breathwork. If you’d like to learn from me in one of these capacities, I’d love to have you in class. Click the image to register or get further details.
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