Listening for the Message of Emotions – Part 4 of a 7-part blog series. Late joining this series? Catch up on Part 1 or last week\’s Part 3!
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? Are your 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. When the shoulders are drawn up and tense, it suggests fear or anxiety. Hands clenched demonstrates 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 the messages “clicks,” telling you it’s the most relevant to your knotted solar plexus.
Suppose the message is “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 my website. It holds the specific message for 9 emotions, along with suggestions for working with those messages. Having this information will make your quest easier, and it 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 also wants to cooperate with you in hearing the message 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.
Stay tuned for Part 5 of my series on emotions on April 21st!
– Ilene
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We have created a safe space to discuss this topic with 4 Wellness Universe Experts. Our goal is to help you heal from your emotional trauma and have health, well-being, and joy in your life once this trauma is realized and released.
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Ilene Dillon, MSW, has dedicated her life to helping people resolve personal challenges once and for all, then design life to be what they want it to be. A Transformation Specialist, she has worked 50 years as a psychotherapist and 15 years as a coach. She is a global speaker, Amazon International Best-selling author (The Wellness Universe Guide to Complete Self-Care, Volumes 1 and 2), podcast guest, and plans to give her first TEDx speech (on Anger) later this year. Ilene is also the author of Emotions in Motion: Mastering Life’s Built-in Navigation System and End Manipulation: Stop Being Jerked Around by Toxic, Energy-draining People. With her little dog, Pi, Ilene lives and travels full-time throughout North America in her RV, writing, teaching, and speaking along the way.
