Paying Attention to Emotions

I am learning more about emotions these days. Learning to look back over my day or even a few days and identify my feelings and emotions. A much better practice then shoving them down or acting on them without thinking. Here’s an example from what I’ve been reading: Did I feel Anger? Sadness? Fear? Then connecting some dots to what brought on these feelings. This goes along with a contemplative prayer practice called The Prayer of Examen.

Here’s what was lurking in my subterranean depths the other day.

I was feeling anger at the injustice in our world.

I was feeling sadness that all our kids and their families live far away at this time.  

I was feeling some fear of becoming insignificant, losing my strength, memory and voice as I grow older. Am I accomplishing anything important these days?  Am I missing something?

Now that I have identified these feelings I can talk about them with loved ones and I can pray about them. Naming these emotions helps me work through the difficulties I may have faced that day. It also helps me sleep better!

I also see how important it is to help children with identifying their emotions and connecting them with what is going on in their lives.  Not an easy task but so important for a life long practice.

Several years ago I began learning  inner healing prayer practices. We learned to connect our current troubling emotions with memory of when we felt these before, until we hit on a spot in our pasts that flared up with these emotions.  With finding these we were then able to invite Jesus into the painful memories and find healing. In this healing of finding him with us in our painful memories we were then able to deal with the present situation that was stirring up old emotions of loss, fear, anger, sadness, or abandonment.

Now having worked through the negative emotions, I can move on to look for positive ones.

Did I feel loved today, seen, heard, or appreciated?  Did something make me laugh, or feel happy or peaceful?  Spending a few moments appreciating these emotions leads right into gratitude. Gratitude is a great way to end any day.