Navigating Heavier Emotions

Navigating Heavier Emotions

by Leslie Storms, M.S. marriage + family therapist, holistic RN, E-RYT 500

Navigating darker (or negative) emotions needs a tender approach.

Many of us are left feeling alone and unprepared for life’s tragic parts. We are all actors on the stage of life and the way in which we play out our parts is crucial to inner and global peace.

It is often outside our awareness that future generations are affected by the way in which we handle “our” personal sorrows. We are vastly interconnected, our individual existence matters and how we respond to life reverberates into the world.

Our physical bodies are engineered to process emotions, to purify both positive and negative emotions.

Many of us know how to let ourselves experience joyful emotions, we even end up unconsciously grasping onto the feelings of happiness. We hopefully wish we could remain in that delightful transient state forever.

But real freedom is initiated when we invite ourselves to see grief in a similar way, not from the standpoint of holding onto it, but from knowing that we are innately designed to process all emotions (positive and negative).

If let untrained out tendency is to resist, push away or get lost in painful emotions. This further impacts our suffering because we fins ourself living in the past and/or imagined future … it’s as if we long to be anywhere other than where we find ourselves.

Also, we indulge in the thoughts around darker emotions. The mind’s very nature is to create stories, but this is counterproductive to our desire to heal and reestablish a sense of peace. So rather than let the narrative play over and over, it helps to become the witness. That’s when we mindfully observe the thoughts as they enter and pass through the mind.

It’s could be imagined or help as if we were gazing at the sky. The sky is vast and ever present which represents our infinite nature (or formlessness) and the clouds which change and move freely across the backdrop of the sky — the clouds represent our humanness (or form). It’s a beautiful moment when we see a way to honor, both our form and formlessness. That’s the ultimate paradox and dance toward lasting liberation.

Another way to purify negative emotions, is to make time to sit. It may sound ghastly, but it has the potential to deeply transform us.

One way to sit with these unwanted emotions is to use a visualization technique by way of imagination.

To begin, imagine that the physical body is hollow through the center. See the heavy emotions move through the center of the physical body - and then see them being released back into the universe.

If it all seems to obscure, give this Alchemy of the Heart Guided Meditation by Ram Das a listen.

And lastly for the sake of keeping this blog to a minimum.

Botanicals

Spiritual baths

Holistic remedies

have long been used to help mend our broken hearts. They support the body, mind, and spirit as it searches its way to regaining harmony and balance.

A few remedies and herbs are listed below.

Remember to use discernment when dealing with dark emotions. If the darkness seem unbearable, please seek support. There are times in our lives, that we need the compassionate love of another to help guide us back home.