It can take great courage to really sit with our feelings, allowing ourselves to surrender to their powerful energies. All too often we set our feelings aside, thinking we will deal with them later. If we don’t, we will end up storing them in our minds and bodies, and this is when anxiety and other health issues can arise. Denying what our bodies want to feel can lead to trouble now or down the line, which is why being in the thick of our feelings, no matter how scary it seems, is really the best thing we can do for ourselves.

One of the reasons we tend to hide or push aside our feelings is that we live in a culture that has not traditionally supported emotional awareness. However, as the connection between the mind and body — our emotions and our physical health — becomes clearer, awareness of the importance of feeling our feelings has grown. There are many books, classes, workshops, and retreats that can help us on our way to emotional intelligence. We also can trust in our own ability to process what comes up when it comes up. If sadness arises, we can notice its presence and welcome it, noting where in our bodies we feel it, and allowing ourselves to express it through tears or a quiet turning inward.

When we simply allow ourselves to fully embrace our feelings as they come, we tend to let them go easily. This is all we are required to do. Our feelings simply want to be felt. We often complicate the situation by applying mental energy in the form of analysis, when all we really need is to allow — just like the Earth allows the rain to fall upon it. As the rain falls, the Earth responds in a multitude of ways, sometimes emptying out to form a great canyon, sometimes soaking it up to nourish a forest of trees or a valley of flowers. In the same way, the deeper purpose of our feelings is to transform the terrain of our inner world, sometimes creating space for more feelings to flow, sometimes providing sustenance for growth. All we need to do is allow the process by relaxing, opening, and receiving the bounty of our emotions.