It’s Time To Start Allowing Yourself To Feel Again
Why are we so frantically afraid to feel deeply with our full heart and soul? Why do we shy away from the gift we have been given to feel true joy and sadness?
Some say it is because we know joy is a fleeting emotion and it is less painful to feel minimal joy than to feel the equivalent, enormous amount of sadness when that joyful moment has vanished. But to not feel deeply is like going to a symphony and sticking in earplugs, or going to the beach and wearing a snowsuit to shield yourself from the soothing sensation of salt-water flowing over your delicately sun-kissed skin. We would never do such things because it would defeat the whole purpose of these experiences. So why oh, why do we do such things with ordinary, everyday moments? Why do we give ourselves a limit to the amount of joy we can feel? Because, just so you know, that feeling we have in any given moment is the only thing we know truly exists. The anticipation we have for future events and the tight grasp we hold onto for our past experiences, good or bad, do not exist. Our investment into the feeling of the present moment and the experience along with it, is the only aspect of our life we can guarantee, so why do we rarely jump in and live it, feel it?
Have you ever wondered why we are here on this earth? Have you ever wondered what your purpose or calling in life may be? As morbid as it may sound, the amount of money you make, the status of your job, how many university degrees you acquire or how “put together” your life may be won’t mean much when you die. We have not been put on this earth to accomplish these things; that is not the reason we are here. We have been given the gift of life and our only duty is to simply enjoy the human experience. That’s it. So simple, easy and beautiful. We have been given a gift to play, to feel, yet we stab ourselves in the back every time we prevent ourselves from diving into every emotion ever so whole heartedly.
Joy is probably the most difficult emotion to feel because of its fleeting effect, yet if you ask anyone what they want more of in their life, most people will answer with “I want more joy”. But, you see the key is to not only begin to feel joy to its fullest capacity, but to start living every emotion to its utmost potential. Yes, that means to feel sadness all the way down to its darkest, deepest and most heart wrenching effects. Don’t push these feelings aside just because it does not make you feel good. You are human. You need these dark feelings to understand your emotions so you can freely live those joyful moments without being pulled back by others.
The conscious ability to be with our own thoughts and feelings is a blessing to the human race. It is quite easy to distract ourselves from our emotions with violence, anger, socialization or quite simply the attachment we have to our smart devices. To say we are simply disconnected is a foolish understatement; we require a crude awakening to the connection with ourselves and with our environment as beings of nature. I encourage you to start feeling with every ounce of your being, to cry until your eyes run dry, to laugh until your belly aches; and to learn to love the wrinkles which hug your eyes for every time you have smiled with explosions of joy. You deserve to give yourself the gift to be with every emotion you own and to remove yourself from distractions blinding you from witnessing the clarity of this beautiful gift. If we were destined to simply do experiences without fully feeling them, we would most certainly not be called human beings on this earth, but rather human doings. You—you beautiful soul, it is time to begin fulfilling your purpose in this world by starting to do a little less and to start being a little more.