Feel the Feelings

There has been so much sadness lately. So many opportunities to grieve. Don’t let the opportunity pass you.

Feel the grief. Feel the pain.

Allow the tears to fall and feel the sweet release they provide.

I found myself in my own grief this past week. I had felt some sadness, heaviness, coming in just before my birthday. Grief seems to pop up around that time of year for me and I get really sad for my dad. I can hear his voice saying “happy brithday Pal”! He always made me feel so special.

So this week when I noticed that same familiar sadness coming back and grief rearing it’s head again, I was ready to process whatever I found as I scanned my internal landscape. What I noticed however is that I was also feeling really angry. I had read Donald Trump’s statements about Rob Reiner and I got pissed. Again. I just wanted to be sad and reminisce about how much joy Rob Reiner’s movies brought me. I didn’t want to let Trump’s own jealousies and insecurities steal my moment of grief. Not today. And frankly not anymore. I’m tired of all the anger and generalized hate constantly put out into the world by him and his administration. That alone makes me sad.

It feels so hopeless sometimes, but I know we can’t stay in that sadness and anger and be effective. We need to make a conscious effort.

So instead I did a heart chakra Kundalini yoga practice and dove straight into my sacred heart and the love and compassion that resides there. By the end of the 75 minutes the compassion I felt was over flowing and I was even able to muster some extra compassion up for the hate filled ego maniac that is our current president. It was fantastic! Rather than sit and stew in the anger, I alchemized it and turned it into something else altogether. Something that nourishes me and the people around me, rather than sucking me dry.

That’s what sitting in those feelings, that energy, will do. And if we want to fight back and return compassion and love to this country, we need to feel and process those feelings ourselves first and then transmute it into conscious, intentional action.

It’s an overplayed metaphor, but it’s true. You must put on your own oxygen mask first before you can help anyone else. So rather than spin out in an anger/grief spiral, nourish yourself. So that when the time comes for you to take action, you are able to do so with a full tank of love and compassion for all. Maybe you’ll even have a little left over to send to those who seem to need it most.

Have you checked in with your heart lately?

How is it holding up?

What seems to be the most challenging for you right now?

Is there a practice, self care tool or small thing you can do today for yourself in order to process and move the feelings that have come up?

If you’re not sure where to start, let me know. I am here and ready to support anyone on this path.