When we train- we usually work the muscle by adding some form of resistance to the movement of choice. Resistance can be added through weight, another person pressing down on a bar or rubber bands to name a few. Resistance training causes your muscle to grow bigger and stronger. Keep in mind that we need to rest and use the right amount of resistance so we don’t end up hurting ourselves. When we injure ourselves through resistance training we can be out of the gym for a long time.

Now what if we take that theory and apply it to our emotions. If we’re feeling happy or joyful-we don’t often resist that feeling. Rather, we enjoy it and let the emotion flow through us freely. However, when we feel down or sad, we sometimes try to fight off that feeling-telling ourselves that we should not feel this way. Now apply the theory. When we resist an emotion it only becomes stronger. We’re only causing the emotion to be more predominant in our minds. Why would we want “negative” emotions to take the spotlight in our conscious? Why are we giving it so much attention? What I’m saying is that when we’re feeling any emotion-we should just let it be. Especially when it’s on the bluer side of life.

There is nothing wrong with feeling down. There is nothing wrong with being angry. We can all use that energy to fulfil a good purpose. One of my favourite quotes is, “Being spiritual doesn’t mean you  are always positive. Fuck out of my face while I balance these energies”. Again, we can use the resistance theory. If we train our chest, but never train our back-we will definitely grow a bigger chest. Our chest will start pulling our shoulders forward because our back is too weak to keep them where they should be. We create an imbalance in our body that can cause all sorts of problems and can be hard to undo. If we never resist positive emotions and resist negative ones the latter will become stronger causing an imbalance that can be a nightmare to undo. If we look even deeper into the theory we can compare an injury to a mental breakdown. We put too much weight on the bar and end up hurting ourselves. When we put so much energy into resisting a negative emotion we can end up mentally hurting ourselves even causing breakdown.

So what can we do? We can start by listening to our mind. If we can hear what’s going on up there then we should just listen. Let’s notice our current state of mind. If we are feeling over-whelmed then we should lie down and let ourselves experience these feelings. Violence solves few problems so why put up a fight? Another favourite quote of mine is, “Don’t worry, it will pass”. Whatever we feel at any moment in time will pass, and a new emotion will come and take it’s place. 

How do I go about listening to myself and noticing my emotions? My personal routine is to chant a mantra with my eyes closed. I imagine my “safe zone” and focus on the mantra. As I do this I notice my thoughts and emotions, but give them no energy. My energy is going into focusing on the mantra. When I wake up I experience my current state of mind fully. If said state of mind is negative then I’m aware of that and am fully able to not let that have an effect on those who surround me, and most importantly, those that are close to me.

So do me a favour. We’ll do it together. Next time we’re feeling down or negative. Let’s embrace those emotions and allow ourselves to feel that way. Experience what it means to be an emotional being in full. It’s beautiful to experience all different types of emotions, and for that we can be grateful. We need to realise that we are only human and sometimes we’re just not feeling okay. Give each other understanding-we’ll be just fine.

Here’s what I listen too when I’m feeling negative. Like I said in my post about Music and Emotion-listening to a song that matches your emotion will help it pass.

Leave a Reply


You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Google+ photo


Connecting to %s