Do you ever notice how sometimes it feels like you keep facing the same challenges in life over and over again?

Maybe it seems like door after door keeps slamming in your face when it comes to your career or you find yourself at the tail end of another ‘failed’ relationship. You think to yourself, “Ugh, this again? Seriously? Haven’t I dealt with this already?” So you get frustrated, push your emotions aside and resist the situation because you’re so sick and tired of playing the same old broken record on repeat.

That’s exactly where I was at a couple weeks ago. I had an incident in my personal life that dredged up a lot of hurt from my past. Since I declared 2015 the year of letting go of not good enough, I can’t say I’m entirely surprised this happened. What I’ve found since committing to a spiritual path is that when we make a statement that we’re ready to grow in a certain area of our lives, the Universe will generally give us what what we ask for. Often, this comes in the form of some type of challenge or circumstance so that we can make the choice to view things differently or choose to see it as an opportunity for growth. It’s not a punishment, but rather, a loving nudge from the Universe that it’s time to clear a tired, old thought pattern and make way for a newer one that will serve us better. You may have heard it said that before you can claim a big “YES,” all of your old “no’s” will come up to greet you. In my experience, it’s true.

So that’s where I was at — staring an old “no” square in the face. And I found myself getting really frustrated. Like, to the point of driving myself crazy. I kept running the situation over and over in my head wondering what in the heck I could possibly be missing. Then a light bulb went off and I realized, if the hurt is still there then there’s still more to heal. It’s that simple. There was nothing to analyze, nothing to figure out.

Anytime we find ourselves reacting strongly to something in our present life circumstance (you know, the kind of hurt, sadness or fear that makes you feel like your world is ending), it is almost always connected to some unresolved pain from the past. Our instinct is to run way from these feelings, to stuff them down and avoid them at all cost  (Trust me, I know how it feels to want to move quickly through discomfort), but that only makes matters worse. When these deep emotional wounds come up, resisting only drives them deeper and makes it more likely they’ll stick around. Since our deep-seated emotional beliefs affect the way we view the world, we’ll continue to experience the same situations.

Want to know the trick to moving through your feelings more quickly and being able to view your present circumstances in a new light? Give yourself permission to feel.

We all go through times when we just need to drop everything and allow ourselves to feel whatever it is we’re going through. That’s what I needed over these past couple weeks. To sit with my emotions and simply allow them to be — without judging, without analyzing, without the pressure of trying to figure anything out.

So that’s exactly what I did.

I lingered in my meditation and felt the warmth of my tears running down my cheeks. I sat at my piano and felt the energy in my hands as my emotions moved through my fingers and across the keys. I went out running and allowed myself to pause along the side of the road and just feel the rush of the wind on my face as the cars passed by. Instead of resisting the sadness by keeping myself busy or stuffing my emotions down, I met it head on. I’m not going to lie to you, it was kind of intense. But it was also so, incredibly healing. Slowly, but surely, the sadness began to lift and I felt lighter and more free.

A Course in Miracles teaches us that “All healing is release from the past.” It takes courage and extreme self-acceptance to be willing to face your emotions head on, but once you try it you realize there’s actually nothing to be afraid of. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. When we allow ourselves to feel our emotions, we begin to heal from our past pain and set ourselves free. We literally undo the past which gives us free reign over the present. We allow ourselves to move through the pain to the truth that is waiting on the other side.

Call to action: Next time you find yourself becoming overwhelmed with sadness, fear or any other “negative” emotion, let yourself feel it. Sit with it in stillness, without judging. Allow it move through you. It will pass. Even when it feels like the fear is too great or the stream of tears is never-ending. I promise you, it will pass.

xoxo

Kristi

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