Becoming Emotionally Literate: Part 1 - Thinking, Feeling, and Describing
by Richard Harvey on 04/09/16
Many of us deal with
enquiries about how we are feeling with vagueness: "I'm fine,"
"I am well, thank you," "A bit tired." All well and good
until you enter the inner world of self-exploration. For those of
us involved in the inner world being upset, OK, or fine are redundant
terms. We need to be emotionally literate.
Like a painter whose
vision is not restricted to red, blue, yellow, and green, we must possess more
ways of describing our emotions. Angry, sad, scared, and hurt are not enough.
So, here's my quick
course for converting a previously illiterate person into an emotionally
literate one.
One: Do not experience
feelings, or more strictly speaking emotions, through your mind
Most people "think
their emotions." This is rather like pouring processed white sugar over a
sugar-free desert. Please don't! You cannot think emotions; you can only think
thoughts and real emotions are not reduceable to thought. Emotions must be felt.
Two: Feel emotions by
connecting with their bodily location
When you experience some
feeling or other do not be vague. Start by locating where the emotion is in
your body. If you have any difficulty with this allow your hands to respond.
Nine times out of ten when I ask an emotionally illiterate person to place
their hands on the bodily location of their present feelings their hands know
exactly where to go.
Briefly, emotions
relating to sadness, anger, and power reside in the belly and the pelvis. Emotions
related to self-love and self-worth in the solar plexus. Longing, love, grief
are found in the heart or chest center.
Once you have located
where your emotions are, bring attention to them via their bodily location. Now
you should begin to notice how, rather than being stuck, emotions actually want
naturally to flow and how they respond to attention in a balancing, healthy,
positive way.
Three: Develop your
vocabulary and feeling response to emotions by learning how to describe them.
This is what we shall look at in more detail in next week's BLOG.
Thank you for reading
this. Now tell me: How are you feeling now?
BLOG entry #38
