It's Okay to Feel "Bad" Emotions
- Nina
- Jun 4, 2018
- 3 min read
It's really exciting that we are in a time when mindfulness, meditation and gratitude are becoming mainstream. But just like anything else, people can use how "enlightened" they are to shame or judge others, especially when it comes to "bad" emotions. You know what bad emotions are - sadness, anger, jealousy, discontent... everything like that. Everyone strives to be "in the moment" and connected to the Universe such that they don't feel such negative vibrations.
But is this really best?
"Emotions are not good or bad, they just are.
Emotions are just FEEDBACK!"
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Emotions are not good or bad, they just are. Emotions are just FEEDBACK! When emotions are negative, they are just letting you know that something isn't right and needs to be addressed. If you're aware that you are feeling jealous, great! That is a fantastic sign that something within you has not healed yet. Investigate and figure out what it is! Work on it! You see? it is just your intuition, your soul, your inner guru nudging you to pay attention. When you feel fulfilled and aligned, that's a message that you are on the right path. When you feel anxious and unsettled, something needs to change to get back in alignment.
So why are we so obsessed with not having negative feelings?
It really all comes back to ego, in my opinion. We want to seem "better" and more "enlightened" than we are. We still subscribe to the schoolyard belief that you're cool if you don't care about anything. And that just gets transferred over to this being at "peace" with everything concept. It's silly, really. We are human beings! We are supposed to feel ALL emotions! That's why we have them! Can you imagine if we really never felt anything but contentment? I mean, that would be great, but would anything ever get done??? We are creators. We are made to create. We create technology, we create art, we create music. And so much more. Creating means that you are not content with what is, and want to bring something else into existence. It's actually a fantastic quote from the movie "mother!" that I love so much:
Mother: What hurts me the most is that I wasn't enough.
Him: It's not your fault. Nothing is ever enough. I couldn't create if it was. And I have to. That's what I do. That's what I am. And now I must try it all again.
We have to create, which shows our very human dance between discontent and content. Gratitude and yearning. It is beautiful, really. The typical yin and yang, as with everything else in life.
So you see? Give yourself a break. You don't have to be or seem happy all the time. You don't have to pretend you don't feel anger or jealousy. Who would believe you, anyway? If someone does, then please be careful, because they have you on such an unrealistic pedestal, and it will be very messy when you inevitably fall back down here with the rest of us. Certainly don't do that to yourself. Don't subject yourself to such cruel expectations. Accept your "bad" emotions, and use them as the feedback tool that they are. And guess what? As you do that, you might even experience them less and less...
