Have you noticed, even after you talk sense to yourself about the price you're not willing to pay to own that new thing, or remind yourself that your friend is hurting and that's why they made that cruel observation, that the ache of longing or sting of hurt still lingers?
Well that's because there's a part of each of us that is pure feeling and not responsive to rational explanation. Rational self talk is necessary, but it neglects to honor one of the most valuable parts of the human psyche, the emotions that move and inspire us, and give us the wonderous capacity of empathy. We neglect this capacity at great risk.
Ignoring these irrational feelings and plowing forward results in several neurosis. The two expressions I've observed most often are numbness and volatility. One can lose the capacity for joy, pleasure, and compassion from treating one's emotions like an enemy. The other common reaction to repression is inappropriate expressions of emotions like resentment and anger, lust and self pity, which are easily justified by the overdeveloped Rationalizer to whom the keys to the psychic kingdom were given, unaware of all the hidden passageways in the castle from which the unobserved emotions can escape.
Letting one's embarrassing emotions join the conversation can be daunting and discomforting at first, but you'll find that it may not be long before you begin to welcome what they add to your vitality and perspective. The party in your head will be much more lively when you show those tricksters a bit of hospitality.
Well that's because there's a part of each of us that is pure feeling and not responsive to rational explanation. Rational self talk is necessary, but it neglects to honor one of the most valuable parts of the human psyche, the emotions that move and inspire us, and give us the wonderous capacity of empathy. We neglect this capacity at great risk.
Ignoring these irrational feelings and plowing forward results in several neurosis. The two expressions I've observed most often are numbness and volatility. One can lose the capacity for joy, pleasure, and compassion from treating one's emotions like an enemy. The other common reaction to repression is inappropriate expressions of emotions like resentment and anger, lust and self pity, which are easily justified by the overdeveloped Rationalizer to whom the keys to the psychic kingdom were given, unaware of all the hidden passageways in the castle from which the unobserved emotions can escape.
Letting one's embarrassing emotions join the conversation can be daunting and discomforting at first, but you'll find that it may not be long before you begin to welcome what they add to your vitality and perspective. The party in your head will be much more lively when you show those tricksters a bit of hospitality.
