It’s great to know that emotions are messengers, but how do we actually hear the message of a particular emotion? How can we listen to emotions?
Since emotions are connected with our body, the best way to listen to them is by staying aware of what is happening in our body. Do you have a knot in your solar plexus? Is your throat tight? Are your shoulders drawn up and tense? Hands clenched into fists? Or is your heart warm and beating strongly? These are all signs of emotion.
There are general messages connected with each emotion you experience in this way. For example, a knot in your solar plexus usually indicates you’re feeling manipulated. A tight throat signals anger. The shoulders drawn up and tense suggests fear or anxiety. Hands clenched demonstrate anger, and a warm and strongly-beating heart alerts us to feelings of love. These are messages available to all of us, consistent even though experienced by different people.
Within these general messages are more specific messages
These you can identify by asking your body! This is best done when you’re alone, so you don’t feel embarrassed or inhibited.
Place your hand on your solar plexus, then ask (preferably aloud), “What are you trying to tell me?” Whatever comes up in your brain, say it out loud. “I’m feeling ‘had.’ “I feel like running when I’m around that person.” “I just don’t like that individual’s attention.” Allow as many messages to come up as you can find. Usually, one of them “clicks,” telling you it’s the most relevant to your knotted solar plexus.
Suppose it’s “I feel like running when I’m around that person.” With this information you can examine what happens that causes you to feel like running. You already know you’re dealing with manipulation, so this additional information suggests you focus on how that person is draining your energy. Criticism? Constant intrusion? Extravagant gifts that seem to “entitle” that person to what s/he wants from you?
Once you find what it is that makes you want to run, you’re ready to decide what you’ll do so that you don’t keep having a knot in your stomach.
My Tiny Book on Emotions is ready for you on www.emotionalmasteryforlife.com. It holds the specific message for nine emotions, along with suggestions for working with those messages. Having this information will make your quest easier, and will be a ready reference as you learn to hear the message emotions are offering you.
Once you and your body have identified, worked with, resolved, and then sent a particular emotion on its way, celebrate! Because Gratitude is the law of increase, when you are grateful (to yourself, your body, and the emotion(s)), working with your next emotional message will be easier. You will increase your aptitude!
Your body feels every emotion, remembers every emotion, and wants to cooperate with you in hearing the messages of the emotions it experiences. Hearing and working with those messages will make you, and your body, feel great as you travel on the Journey that is your life.