As I continue down the path of making peace with my emotional nature, I am inspired to share what I am discovering. Teaching and sharing what what I know to be true not only supports others but deepens my own understanding.

Becoming more comfortable with, and accepting of, the full range of our emotions is something every human can benefit from.  Because we have been taught to fear and deny our emotions, they create havoc in our bodies, our lives and our world.

Emotions are energy-in-motion, which is why they are often connected to the element of water. Pure water, like all of the elements, is a very healing energy – it cleanses and nourishes body and Soul. Except that is, when it becomes stagnant.

The same is true with our emotions. When emotions are allowed to flow, they bring clarity, compassion and richness to our lives. But because we are generally not taught how to work with our emotions, we suppress, numb or unskillfully express them.

I realized many years ago, that it was not the world and other people that frightened me, it was my own thoughts and feelings! What a surprise it was to discover this. It motivated me to find a way to no longer feel victimized by my own painful emotions and the stories they create.

My particular challenge has been not knowing how to handle to intensity of feelings that I experienced, especially in a culture that values thinking and doing over feeling and being.

I believe our emotional nature is a precious and perhaps defining aspect of our humanity. It is through our capacity to feel that we come to the know the peace and happiness that we are all seeking.

Most of us have an accumulation of unmet emotional pain from the past – both personal and ancestral. As we age, these unmet parts become more insistent if we wish to continue growing and evolving.

I have spent the past nine months, a natural gestation period, in the desert learning  and writing about ‘how to feel’. There has been a growing urgency for me in this regard as I see the impact that unmet feelings has had on my life and my health.

The most important thing I have discovered is that we can simply LET GO of painful feelings. Our intellect has an extremely hard time believing this as it prefers to complicate, rather than simplify things.

When we stop being afraid of fear and instead turn to face it, we see it for what it is –  dense, constricted energy that creates uncomfortable sensations in the body. As we become willing to be present with these sensations, they begin to flow, just like water.

When we realize it is safe to feel – we stop suppressing our own life-force. We also access to our direct intuitive knowing and no longer seek answers outside ourselves. This is very good news, as we are no longer manipulated by fear – from within or without.

Learning to let go is the simplest and most direct path I have found to release the past and enjoy the present moment.