Emotional Cognizance

I’ve heard from so many of you that last week was intense and emotions were high. Not only for you personally, but from what you were witnessing in others.
 
Since you cannot change others, sometimes you need to just walk away and breathe. Don’t engage crazy (see previous blog); take the high road. And when it comes to you, be cognizant of your own emotions. 
 
The only way through an emotion is to feel it. Fully. Don’t judge it, nor try to bury or deny it. Sink into the feeling of it, no matter how uncomfortable, and express it. Ideally to yourself through speaking it or journaling it, or simply being with it. You will release it by allowing it. 
 
Whatever you do, don’t take it out on others by venting or dumping it on them; be responsible with your feelings. If you need to talk it out with another, then do so to understand the emotion, not to simply purge it into another’s space.
 
Recognize that the emotion may not feel rational because it may not be in present time; maybe it’s been repressed and is now coming to the surface to be released. If it feels that way, ask the emotion where it comes from and then sit quietly and be open to any images or flashes of insight from your subconscious. A full memory may surface, or snippets of awareness.
 
If it’s from a painful time, again, don’t try to shove it back down and repress it. If you really don’t want to keep feeling it, you need to accept it. For example, while breathing it out say, “I accept I feel incredible fury because of X. I honor this fury and release it now with every exhale. I choose my freedom and inner peace in its place.”

Imagine the emotion as a color that you exhale out from your whole body, specifically the places it’s been trapped, and then see the energies you want in its place- in the example above, freedom and inner peace- as a color and breath those in. If you don’t know where it sits in your body, that’s fine. Don’t get in your head with it, just accept and release it. If you resist it, it’ll be like glue in your space.

​You may need to repeat that multiple times until the emotion dissipates and transforms.
 
Also be aware that there’s a difference between, for example, anger, rage, fury, and hostility, just like there’s a difference between sadness, grief, disappointment, and despair etc. Sometimes anger is simply anger and sometimes it’s really i.e., vengeance. The more you can call out the exact truth of the emotion versus just blanket words such as anger and sadness, the easier it is to release it down to its core. 
 
If you need, look up synonyms for the main feeling and see which resonates as the real emotion.
 
Remember as well, grounding yourself is key when emotions and chaos are high. Yes I’m a broken record, but earth energy and connecting to the planet can transmute emotional intensity. Think of the energies right now like a tornado; it’s easy to get swept up in them. You can either be flying around, feeling out of sorts, crabby and tired, or you could be grounded, in your body, and feeling the tornado as simply a light breeze blowing past. Grounding will help prevent you from short circuiting due to emotional overload.
 
The more you can honor the truth of your experience, the easier it’ll be to transform it into something lighter. Remember, feeling the emotion is key. You don’t need to stay with it or wallow in it, but do feel it fully in order to move through to the other side, where freedom and beauty awaits.