Negative emotions, such a sadness, anger, guilt, shame and fear can be draining and can contribute to a reduced state of health and wellbeing, says psychologist and author Margaret Lambert in her latest column.
Such emotions can also contribute significantly to conditions of fatigue and pain.
It goes without saying that when we experience negative emotions, we are not in a particularly happy place or feeling at peace.
It is often the case that we feel weak and inadequate and may fear the worst – our equilibrium is shaken at these times.
These difficult emotions have been labelled as negative because we feel down on ourselves, or we feel miserable or hopeless about life in general.
When we label difficult emotions as negative, we classify them as bad.
Our emotions are really no different to clouds in the sky – they come and they go.
We do not need to judge them as good or bad but just notice that they are there.
If we view our emotions in a similar way to the clouds, perhaps we could better understand that all of our emotions are necessary for, or are a response to, particular events in our lives.
Our emotions can help us to notice aspects of our lives that we may need to observe more closely, as difficult emotions tend to attract our attention in more demanding ways.
Through our difficult and challenging emotions, we are given the opportunity to take notice of any messages that may be contained in these particular states.
If we didn’t have difficult feelings, we would probably not be shaken from our pleasant or calm position – there would be little reason to change anything about us and little reason to grow and mature.
These so-called negative feelings, although unpleasant, are in fact, the catalyst for change in our lives and the pathway to our healing.
The importance of gratitude
We can be grateful for our difficult emotions, knowing that they may be nudging us in some way, and propelling us towards change and growth.
When we are more grateful, we become more gentle, which in turn leads us to greater acceptance of ourselves with all of our emotions, whatever they may be.
Until next time…
Marg
