How do your emotions show up?
March 23, 2022
How do your emotions show up?
Feelings and emotions are part of human existence, and we can’t live without them. We have legs to get us around, arms to get things done, lungs to breath, a heart to pump blood, and a brain to control it all. Yes, this is a fundamental description of human anatomy. I’m not trying to teach biology here. The reason I include this context is the physical nature of our body. We touch, feel, and see our body parts, and although we can’t see and feel our inner workings, we know they are there working away. On the other hand, our emotions are just these formless things that we know are there but have no idea where they live, what they do, and why we have them.
Most of us work hard to avoid the feeling we don’t like or want and seek the ones we like. That would be like a right-handed person loving and embracing his right arm and taking an ax to his left!
Parents tell kids to get over it. Coaches tell players to suck it up. Many people find ways to numb their feelings. An overall result is a group of people wandering across the planet with no understanding of their emotions.
It’s time we embraced the cold hard truth that we have emotions that need to be recognized, expressed, and talked about as humans.
One of the challenges we face is understanding the range of emotions, how they are similar but also very different, and what language to put to these feelings while experiencing them. Berne Brown’s book, Atlas of the Heart, talks about 87 different emotions and experiences and how we have little knowledge of where or how they show up.
Think about that for a moment, 87 different emotions and feelings. I am guessing as you read this, you could name 4-7, and the top three would be happy, sad, and mad.
We have a long way to go to understand the range of emotions and experiences we have throughout our life, but the work of learning about them is worth it if we are to engage wholeheartedly with the world around us.
My challenge for you this week is to start taking note of how you’re feeling. Write about it; how does it show up? Where does the emotion show up in your body? And for bonus points, how does it affect those around you? Don’t put too much effort into the reason behind the emotions; that will be distracting. All I want you to do is see and note what it is and where it chose up in the body.
I have noticed an emotion of fear when I sit to write. But as I sit with that feeling, I realize it is not fear; it’s just me worrying about how my writing will be received by those reading these articles. The feeling of fear is produced because I believe I am not a good writer. This revelation is significant because fear would prevent me from hitting publish, but worrying places a minor obstacle in my way that I can reason my way around and put my writing into the world.
Understanding your emotions in this manner will allow you to create a more holistic view of yourself. You can get to know your emotions almost as well as your right and left hands. Remember, emotions are as much part of you as your heart, stomach, brain, and ears. Emotions can be used as much to our benefit and livelihood as any other body part. The first step of using them is knowing them.
Good luck, change-makers, now be the Champion of Change you were made to be