Why can’t I stop crying? – I’m sorry for my tears. – I must be hormonal. – All the things I’ve said and the explanations I’ve given about my emotions. Relate? It’s time to give space to your emotions, they are not against you – they are for you.
We were created to experience our emotions. Emotions lead us to our behaviors – the reasons we do what we do. Our emotions can also indicate areas that feel out of sorts, challenged, or even wounded. Consider your emotions to be the indicators of your heart’s temperature. When emotions over heat and over flow … it’s time to ask ‘why’?
Personally, our Christmas is changing rapidly, and it rattles me. It rattles my core beliefs of what a Christmas with my family should look and feel like. With a daughter across the country, another who is married, and my youngest whom I want to give all the traditions her older sisters had … my tears overflow at times with the change at hand. And those tears have individuality – some are tears of sadness, some are angry, some are resentful, some are selfish …
And that’s OK.
It’s OK to feel the things that cause our heart temperature to rise. In fact, the healthiest thing to do for your mind and heart is allow the feelings to flow through you.
When feelings flow freely – they are given passage ways of release.
As those emotions rise – ask yourself questions like:
- Why is this bothering me so deeply?
- Are my thoughts rational? Meaning, am I making assumptions or are my thoughts fact based?
- What can I do change or enrich the outcome?
- What positive outlook can I give this situation?
- Am I giving myself enough time to process? Meaning, some big emotions take time to run their course … instead of a quick release, some emotions move through our body slower than others. Put it this way – the depth of your love reveals the depth of your pain. Those depths need a little longer to empty out.
With my Christmas example in mind – my emotions were telling me a deeper story of expectations and ideals that I needed to surrender. And the simple fact that the holidays do not define nor dictate the love our family has for each other. Holidays can look different, they can even feel different – foundations established on love remain steady.
Friend, God knows what you’re feeling – He gave you those emotions on purpose. Not to stuff them, hide them, or redirect them … no, He wants you to use them to navigate out of emotionally hard things and burdens you need not carry.
Let those emotions flow through the current of navigating questions and gentle persuasions.
Blessings,♥
Keep the encouragement coming