Sometimes it feels like we have no control over our emotions. We want to change our life and our emotions but we just don’t know where to start. We try positive thinking, affirmations, changing our thoughts or our behaviors.
We never try communicating directly with our emotions.
Our emotions want to communicate with us
We think we can’t talk to our emotions because we try talking to them like they are thoughts. We have become so focused on our thoughts that we forget that we are much more than our thoughts.
Emotions are part of the unconscious mind and we experience emotions in a totally different way from thoughts. Your unconscious mind is always communicating with you. It speaks with you every night when you dream whether you remember the dream or not. Dreams are often strange yet meaningful. We dream that we can speak a foreign language. This might represent a need to communicate in a different way. We dream we can fly. This might represent a need to be free or more creative. Our dreams rarely give us straight forward rational information.
Dreams are only one way of communicating with the unconscious mind. Art, music, and poetry all communicate through our emotions. Remember a song connected with a happy memory. Whenever you hear that special song are you reminded of all those happy emotions and memories?
Poetry and emotions
Poetry can create an emotional response. We don’t realize that emotions can create poetry. Emotions communicate using metaphors, images and stories. These can be thought of as emotional poems.
Long ago our ancestors knew the value of this poetic communication. They used stories, images, songs and dance as important parts of tribal rituals. These became the glue that held the tribe together.
You already use emotional poems
We don’t need to engage in tribal rituals to speak with our emotions. We can open up a two way conversation with our unconscious by engaging the poetic nature of the unconscious mind. We naturally use metaphors, stories and images when we want to communicate an emotion. We say “I’m about to explode” or “I have a warm heart” or I’m down in the dumps.” These are all common emotional poems. These poems express a complex emotional experience with a short phrase.
Listen to your self talk for a day or two. What emotional metaphors do you use? What emotional poems are your friends using?
(Image: FamilyMWR @ Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/familymwr/5546845817/)
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