" Setting A Limit To Sit With Emotions..............."

Setting A Limit To Sit With Emotions...............

Our emotions color our lives with varying palettes. Sometimes we feel a
strong emotion in reaction to something that has happened, but
emotions also visit us seemingly out of the blue, flooding us unexpectedly
with joy or grief or melancholy. Like the weather, they come and go, influencing our mental state with their particular vibration.
Sometimes a difficult emotion hangs around longer than we would like, and we begin to
wonder when it will release its hold on us. This is often true of
grief stemming from loss, for example, or lingering anger over a past
event.

Usually, if we allow ourselves to feel our emotions fully when they
come up, they recede naturally, giving way to another and another. When an
emotion haunts us, it is often because we are afraid of really feeling
it. Emotions like despair and rage are powerful, and it is natural to
want to hold them at bay. Certainly, we don’t want to let them take
us over so that we say or do things we later regret.

When we are facing this kind of situation, it can be helpful to ask the spirit, “How
long do I need to sit with these emotions, how long do I need to feel
these emotions before they can pass?”

If you ask sincerely and wait, an answer will come. Setting a time limit on your engagement with that difficult emotion may be just the technique you need to face it fully.

When you have a sense of how much time you need to spend, set a timer.
Sit down and make yourself available to the emotion that has been
nagging you. All you have to do is feel it. Avoid getting attached to it or
rejecting it.

Simply let it ebb and flow within you. Emotions are by
their nature cyclical, so you can trust that just as one reaches its apex
it will pass. Each time you sit with its presence without either
repressing or acting out, you will find that that difficult emotion was the
catalyst for much needed emotional healing.