The Gift of Emotions

Emotional pain is a gift, leading us to an awareness of beliefs that cause pain and giving us an opportunity to correct them. Most of the time, our parents or those who raised us did the very best they were capable of. Sadly, some were quite incapable. Often unknowingly, they instilled self-doubt, dislike, or maybe even self-hatred in their child(ren). Beliefs we learn outside of our home can also cause self-doubt orself-loathing

As a child, I was dyslexic and could not keep up when the class was reading something together. Because I went to a different school every year, my dyslexia was never diagnosed. My grades were poor and I grew up believing I was stupid, which resulted in me having feelings of embarrassment and shame. Believing I was stupid also led me to make choices based on my low expectations. How much more confident and happy I would have been if, at school or at home, I had been taught that my painful emotions were the result of a mistaken belief and that my slow reading had no connection to being less intelligent. What if we didn’t have to grow up with beliefs that hurt us?

Children will dislike, reject and dissociate from the painful parts of themselves because they know of no other way to stop their pain. Considering all the mistaken messages withwhich children are raised, it is no wonderthat so many people grow up riddled with anxiety, depression and addiction.

Whether we believe we are less than or better than others, whetherwe are fearfulof abandonment and rejection or believe we are wanted and needed, it is the relationship that we have with ourself—the self-hate orself-love that we feel—that will create ourstate of happiness or unhappiness, health or illness. In our journey to the center of our heart, we are learning to clear the path of mistaken painful beliefs and bring our self to the ―doorway― where it is possible to fully merge with our spirit self

As our mistaken beliefs lessen, we more clearly hear the voice of our spirit self. Being fully engaged with our spirit self is described by psychologists as the state of being individuated, autonomous or authentic, fully integrated and whole. Spiritual thinkers would say that we have awakened or have become enlightened, fully merged into the identity of the spirit self, and that our personality self no longer exists. However you choose to view it, the result is wonderful.

When we fully enter into our own heart, we enter into the home of the spirit self. In this home, we find only peace, only love, and no other truth exists.