I believe that right now we are in an age – the Age of Aquarius – according to the astrologers, which is an age when as a collective we are maturing on the emotional level.
More of use are learning emotional intelligence, thus boosting out EQ (Emotional Intelligence) and becoming agents of positive change in the world, or as Jamie Catto tags it, ‘Walking Permission Slips’.
The age of emotional repression is done. No more ‘Suck it up’ or the even more awful cliché posing as wise advice, that one Aussie friend told me ‘Drink a cup of concrete and harden up’ or something to this effect.
Squashing down our feelings is never a good idea. It never works for either us or anyone else. Because if we don’t share what we feel, our relationships become impoverished because our friends / family are not able to tune into us, because they don’t know what’s going on. And that of course doesn’t mean we share exactly the same thing with everybody. This is where the EQ comes in. We need to improve our emotional intelligence so as to know what to share and how much with whom. Not everyone is receptive, but that doesn’t mean you should share your feelings with them, it just means you frame them in a way that this person will understand.
As we become more fluent in identifying and feeling our own feelings, I believe naturally we start to get better at communicating them effectively to others. The important thing is giving ourselves the space and time in our day to feel our feelings, whether this looks like a 5 minute time out toilet break at work, or whether it means asking someone to come and take care of your kids for a little while when we need a break to be with yourself.
I recently recorded this guided meditation for an ’emotional emergency’. This is a situation where you might be feeling overwhelmed by your emotions, and you don’t know what to do. This will help you to stop and pause and feel.
I have recorded this meditation in English and Spanish. La version española se encuentre aqui.
