By acknowledging our negative feelings, we can transform their effect on us
Feelings are completely invisible, yet they exert a powerful effect on us. We identify with them so completely, we employ the phrase “I am” when describing them. I’m happy. I’m frustrated. I’m scared. According to Dr. Gabor Maté, renowned
addictions and trauma expert, human beings are “feelings with words.” Our thoughts, actions, plans, intentions, health, and energy are all informed by our feelings.
Dr. Candace Pert, former chief of brain biochemistry at the National Institutes of Health, explains that neurotransmitters carry chemical messages triggered by emotions to every cell in the body, so emotions affect all our bodily processes.
We might try to talk ourselves out of our negative emotions, but it turns out that attempting to do so doesn’t help. What we need is a set of skills that allows us to transform our emotions so we can send improved messages throughout our body.
One powerful skill for transforming negative emotions is the accurate identification of the emotion. When a feeling has been correctly identified, it opens and shifts, causing bodily changes that will be immediately and clearly discerned. There may be a release of tension, a sense of movement, dramatic relief. The brain responds with recognition, understanding, and insight. The entire body relaxes as the truth makes its way through the layers of the soul. This is why therapy heals. Bringing a person face to face with her own emotions is transformative.
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