A Year Of Living Intentionally Day 15: Feeling the Feels

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.”

— Viktor E. Frankl — 

Something happened the other day which showed me how far I have come in my journey back to myself. It doesn’t matter what it was, just that it brought up a lot of feels. And those feels were uncomfortable. They brought with them thoughts and physical sensations that made me want to run away. And perhaps a few months ago I might not have. But this time I chose to sit with the feelings. To befriend them. And to listen to what they were telling me.

In order to move through the feelings I had to move my body. And doing so made me feel more like a wild animal than a domesticated human — though I believe we are at our core wild animals that yearn to be free. I let my body become a lioness, roaring and bearing its claws. And the energy moved through me.

As a result of allowing myself to feel the feels I was able to make space for a well thought out response rather than a reaction. And that made me feel more empowered. While the situation was still there when back to it, I had changed and as a result the outcome was different.

So often after I react in the heat of a moment I regret it later. Feel ashamed and embarrassed. But when I allow myself time to craft a response I come from a more powerful place. I can show up with an open heart after I process the feelings that come up and that ultimately changes everything.

It won’t always be like that. Sometimes I’ll look in the rearview mirror and wish I had done things differently. But knowing how much better things turn out when I take time to feel the feels is making those moments of regret less frequent.

Erin Roberts is a climate policy researcher and a curious human whose life is dedicated to making the world a little better every day. She is the founder and global lead of the Loss and Damage Collaboration and the founder and convener of the Climate Leadership Initiative.

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