People often ask me if they can change their emotions. Many people believe that emotions are mysterious and difficult to work with. You just have to live with them.
Changing emotions is difficult when you treat them like thoughts. Emotions are not thoughts. When you honor and respect your emotions you can discover your true emotions. You can change your emotions.
Releasing false emotions and beliefs
Instead of changing an emotion, I prefer to release false emotions and replace them with true emotions. False emotions are those that you learned in childhood or inherited from your family. As a young child you may have learned that you are not good enough or you are not lovable or you are not valuable. Other false emotions include unhealthy guilt, shame, fear, anger or hopelessness.
You may not even remember when you learned these false emotions. Even if you can’t remember the past, you have an emotional memory.
Reclaiming true emotions
Once you release the false emotion it is easy to reclaim your true emotion. You don’t need to select or make up this new emotion. This is your natural birth right and the true you.
Your true emotions help you become the person you always wanted to be, such as feeling lovable, worthy, good enough, and valuable. When you are stuck in a false emotion you may not be able to accept your true emotions. That is why you must always release false emotions first.
Can I really work with my own emotions?
Yes. There have always been ways to work with emotions that you can do on your own. These include dream interpretation, art therapy, music therapy or journaling about your emotions. There are books and classes to help you use these methods.
The poetry of emotion process offers you another option. This is a structured three-step process to release false emotions and reclaim true emotions. You learn to communicate with your false emotion, you learn how to release it, and how to accept your true emotion.
Case study
Meg was feeling nervous about staying with friends on her vacation. She has some special needs due to a recent health challenge. She did not tell her friend because she did not want to bother anyone. She was even thinking about cancelling her trip. Are you seeing the false belief yet?
As a young child, Meg learned that nice girls do not bother people. Over time Meg began to feel nervous when she asked for what she needed because she worried she might bother someone.
Meg released the false emotion that she was not good enough and she might bother other people. She felt good enough to call her friend and tell her about her special needs. Her friend was understanding and Meg left for her vacation with a light heart. Meg felt good enough to start asking for what she needs in other areas of her life.
You can do it
You have everything you need to reclaim your true emotions. No one knows you better than you. No one knows what you truly need. You can release your false emotions. You can change your emotions.
What would you be doing if you were no longer limited by false emotions?
To read more…Image: Dirty S @Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/dirtys/5373486922/
