Sweet Emotions

Love them or hate them, our emotions are valuable tools for anyone on a spiritual journey.  I know that may be a difficult concept to accept.  Prominent spiritual teachers are constantly telling us, in the name of the Law of Attraction, to feel good for fear of manifesting something to match our negative emotions.  Now, the Law of Attraction is valid, whether you like it or not.  However, there are other laws at work in the Universe and the LOA isn't as black and white as many of us would like to think it is.  I've been up and down on my little emotional roller coaster over here and--as the ride is coming to a halt--I've finally found stability and clarity.  It wasn't easy, and what it took may actually surprise you.  It wasn't some bright and shiny positive outlook, nor some deeply inspiring message.  I simply had to accept my emotions for what they were and stop denying them attention just because they didn't feel good.  Once I gave them space, I moved through them and found empowered strength.

You see, there is no such thing as a "bad" emotion or a "good" emotion.  Emotions truly are tools and it's beneficial to think of them as such.  Louise L. Hay teaches us that pain and disease in our bodies are signals to us that something isn't in alignment with our highest good and must be changed.  It is the same for our emotional body: discomfort presents itself when something isn't quite right.  What we call "bad" emotions are signals that something in our life deserves our attention.  Therefore, the emotion itself isn't necessarily bad; it can even be perceived as good since it empowers us when used as a tool.  Another way of looking at it is comparing it to the symptoms of an illness.  If you get the flu, you'll find yourself with a fever.  The fever is uncomfortable, but it serves the important purpose of killing off the virus that has infected your body.  By raising your temperature, the fever causes your body to be uninhabitable for the virus.  After your body successfully fights off the virus, your immune system is stronger for the experience and is more capable of defending itself from future infection.  The rest of our body works exactly the same way, and this includes our emotional body.  Negative emotions serve a purpose in alerting us to make a change as well as pushing us forward in our spiritual growth.  This is why ignoring the emotion isn't effective and holds us back.  We have to open ourselves up, listen to the message it carries, and move through it.

To understand the universe is to understand our own heart...Emotions are portals to enlightenment and higher consciousness. ~ Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo

Movement is the key.  There is no reason to dwell in emotions that are uncomfortable for us.  The entire point of uncomfortable emotions is to get us to move, to transport us to a higher plane.  To give you another example of how this relates to the function of our physical bodies, consider how you react when you accidentally set your hand on a hot stove burner.  The heat burns your skin, your nerves create a sensation of pain sending a message to your brain that you are damaging your body, and your reflexes cause your muscles to contract and quickly remove your hand from danger.  You do not feel the pain and dwell in it...that would be quite ridiculous (if you can imagine).  Instead, you take action to improve the situation.  It's exactly the same for our emotions.  Only spend as much time in the uncomfortable emotional state as you need; recognize the discomfort, acknowledge what isn't working, and allow that to motivate you to move in a new direction.  It won't always be easy; it's not as simple as jumping from depression to bliss.  As Abraham-Hicks teaches, start where you're at.  Acknowledge how you feel now.  You may even need to work your way up through the emotions.

However, just as with a burn, sometimes emotions point to a need for healing.  This is when uncomfortable emotions become even more powerful as tools.  Grief, for instance, is a process that deserves respect.  It takes time and space to work through the emotions and come out on the other side.  Grieving is complex and often prolonged.  The same goes for what the mystics call the Dark Night of the Soul, a powerful time in the spiritual journey that is often wrought with despair, emptiness, doubt, inner struggle, and a sense of being lost.  It acts as a gateway to higher consciousness, resulting in the transcendence of previous patterns and beliefs.  The Darkness has been described as a light that is so bright that you are blinded; you are lost, it seems dark, but once you work through it your eyes adjust and can recognize a brightness you had not yet perceived.  Both of these processes are not to be rushed and, while painful, are enormously healing and spiritually significant states of being.  The best you can do is maintain awareness and stay connected to truth and love until the pain makes way for a greater peace.  You will, without a doubt, come out on the other side better for the experience.

I definitely struggled with a Dark Night of my own quite recently.  I have, quite honestly, been experiencing a Dark Night of the Soul for several months.  But it all came to a head with the news of the oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.  This has been absolutely devastating for me, as it has been for many.  I haven't been on this planet long, but looking back I honestly don't think I've faced anything as challenging as this.  Everything in my life that has been painful really only involved me and maybe a few others, so I managed to work through it by claiming my responsibility for what went wrong as well as the healing that had to occur.  This situation, on the other hand, involved me and every other person who gives money to the oil industry, not to mention the very company I purchased my oil from, a company I thought of as the lesser evil.  It also involved the environment...a large part of the environment, and possibly even the species I have adored and supported since I was a small child.  While I knew somewhere deep within that there was hope, the anger and fear that bubbled up within me began to drown me in a deep despair.  I made a vital mistake by dwelling in the anger, by feeding my fears, and by holding on to my grief.  Instead of feeling my emotions and allowing them to move me forward into action, I was stuck in my emotions while desperately kicking and screaming in an attempt to take that action.  I denied myself the gifts grief and emotional processing had to offer, and it began to take its toll.  For weeks, I tried my best to hold it together.  For weeks, I tried to stay positive and motivated.  But I couldn't stay still for one moment, I couldn't keep quiet for one moment, and I couldn't stop my mind from racing.  I found myself picking fights, going into rants and rages, and I was constantly sick as my body was sending me signals (all of which Louise L. Hay's list indicated were due to fear, rejecting an experience, and rejecting myself).  Finally one night I couldn't sleep due to anxiety and a persistent headache, so I got out of bed, nestled into a comfortable position on my chaise, and tried to read Michael Beckwith's Affirmations and Embodiments in his book Spiritual Liberation.  These words have always been extremely empowering and life-affirming for me, so it was heartbreaking for me to find them feeling numb in my heart.  I had to admit to myself that I was experiencing a Dark Night of the Soul.  Almost as soon as I made this admission, I burst into tears.  I wept until I could weep no longer.  I let all the despair, guilt, and anger leave my emotional and physical bodies until there was nothing left.  When I was done I felt a calm wash over me.  I felt empty, and my headache was gone.  I was an open vessel and I knew it was now time to refill with comfort, joy, and love; it was time to nurture myself and listen to what was trying to come through me.  The following days were certainly a process of healing, but after devoting my attention to caring for myself and opening up, I found myself empowered.  The insights I had during my emotional release and healing sessions were invaluable, and I have now been propelled forward.

The most important lesson I learned was the value of anger.  For starters, every powerful spiritual activist I can think of got angry at some point.  Both Jesus and Gandhi, for instance, got angry.  What they did that many don't do is move through it.  They got angry and only stayed in their anger long enough to receive the signal that something called for change.  Then they transmuted the energy of that fiery anger into fiery passion.  What's more is they used that fiery passion to propel them forward into action.  I was able to do the same with my anger about the Gulf.  I took my anger and transmuted it into passion.  I have a motivation I would not have had I not been fully informed.  Not only that, having experienced the negative emotions and going through the process, I am now able to visualize healing, restoration, and beauty for the Gulf.   I wasn't able to do that before, and it wasn't because I had images of oiled birds and dolphin carcasses in my head.  It's far more profound.  You see, after going through the transformation and healing in my own Self, I am now able to facilitate it for the Gulf and all the living beings affected by the tragedy.  In allowing myself to go through the process of transformation, I am ultimately contributing to the transformation that is due for the Gulf.  This is because our thoughts are tied to the outcome of the situation; we have all been affected, we have all been heartbroken.  Healing our heartbreak is part of the healing process for the Gulf, and acknowledging that heartbreak is the first step toward healing.  I know many people are avoiding watching or reading news of the Gulf, but forgive me in saying that you may be in denial of your true feelings.  How many of you are avoiding that news for fear of that heartache?  And isn't that fear an indication that your heart is already broken?  Acknowledging the severity of the situation, allowing the pain to move through me and transmuting that pain into compassion and hope was a powerful experience and I am so grateful for it.  What's more is it gave me an invaluable gift.  Because I felt it in my own body, I now know from experience what can happen for the Gulf: a miracle.  A transformation. 

This is the powerful gift your "negative" emotions can bless you with: a tangible experience of what is possible for this world.  For how are we to transform this world if not through ourselves first?  Denying that which makes us uncomfortable doesn't transform it; it just puts it on the back burner for us to deal with further down the road, thus delaying transformation and transcendence.  There are only so many burners on our stoves.  Sooner or later we'll have no room to put our boiling pots to simmer, and they will demand our attention.  We must face our pain and grief with the knowledge that they are an important part of our spiritual journey.  I assure you: in facing your uncomfortable emotions with courage and receptivity, you are in for one of the most profound experiences of our life.  

Light & Love,

Kayleigh

Comments

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1563272243]

Thank you for that entire blog, Kayleigh. I've been trying to ignore the negative news of the Gulf situation, but yesterday I was saddened to think that this oil spill could affect at least one endangered species. I was angry to think that our false need for oil could threaten the extinction of the manatee, and worried about their ability to migrate this Fall. I tried to stay positive, but as you wrote, I knew I had to feel the emotion to let it go. I awoke this morning and said a prayer for the manatees and the Gulf. Now I'm feeling a little more hopeful... which is a little higher up than I was yesterday.

[Yvonne Smith]

Good one!

[Aaron.]

couldnt have said it better myself. ;)