I FEEL/I AM

We wouldn't be humans if we didn't experience these feelings.

However, what so often happens is that fear and unresolved trauma unconsciously become the guiding forces that derail us from living life to our fullest potential.

Meditation as a Healing Tool

Having a meditation practice has given me a transformative way of moving through difficult emotions while keeping me aligned with my highest purpose. It has been invaluable to see myself so intimately.

In meditation, all that is asked of us is to observe what is going on.  The process takes care of itself.  We don't need special lighting, or silence, or even a certain kind of cushion to experience this.

We just need ourselves and the intention to observe.  We allow our mind to link up with our breath.

However, it can be challenging to sit when difficult or traumatic feelings arise.  What happens when those feelings come up?  For many, that is the very moment the meditation stops.  Initially, these feelings may appear too uncomfortable to face, and since we may not have the tools to be with them properly, we stop the very process that can heal us.  Let me add here that it is perfectly OK to give ourselves permission to stop and take things slower.  There is no need to rush anything.

However, the question still remains, how do we observe difficult feelings without merging with them and letting them take over?

Short Exercise to Aid in the Process

The following exercise called "I Feel/ I Am" is a great cognitive tool that addresses this question.

This is what you do:  Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle (thus making 2 columns). Over the first column write the heading "I FEEL"; over the second column write "I AM."

Begin writing under "I FEEL" whatever you are feeling. This can be whatever you are feeling in that very moment or whatever you have been feeling lately. Just write whatever comes.

Next is the more challenging part (usually, for most people): Under "I AM" write down whatever is unchanging about you. This is who you are as a person, your core, your soul, i.e. that deeper stuff.

In other words, you are asked to examine your feelings,which are transitive; coming and going,  and your identity,which is stable; rooted in something unchanging.

Most people will be surprised at what they discover.  Spend some time examining what you wrote and note any shifts in awareness.  Ask yourself if your feelings have become your identity, i.e. if you wrote feeling words in your "I AM" category.  If so, move those words back to the "I FEEL" side and ask yourself if your "I AM" column is speaking to your essence.

Then, as you sit for meditation, have the intention to access your "I AM" presence.  This presence then becomes the holding environment for your feelings.

Does knowing that you are not your deepest, darkest feelings change how you experience those same feelings?  Do they become a little less daunting?  A little lighter perhaps?

I invite you to see what you experience.

I have had some incredible shifts from this practice, and I have also witnessed others being freed from years of unnecessary pain.  If you move just an inch in this direction, I would say there is no greater gift you can give yourself.