A lot of emotions are flying around out there right now. Yours, mine, everybody’s. Each day in our world is a new adventure in ups and downs and it’s definitely not for the faint of heart! Building emotional capacity is a key skill in being able to handle what the world is dishing out right now.
What happens if we can’t do this? We shut down, tune out, hide our heads in the sand, cross our fingers and hope for everything to go back to the way it was before. To live more fully, including feeling and processing our emotions, requires us to open up a little bit wider to be able to hold more.
Why do we need to do this? One of the most pivotal issues of our day is learning to be comfortable with the unknown. Finding comfort in the uncomfortable. Uncertainty is the mortal enemy of the ego. As long as we’re staying in our comfort zone we feel safe. However, what do we do when nothing is certain and change becomes a daily occurrence?
Think of a time when your emotions felt out of control. Maybe you had a crisis in your life. Someone died, someone got sick, problems in your marriage or other relationships. Any kind of devastating crisis can leave us in a puddle of mush.
How can we build our emotional capacity?
Practice love for yourself and for others. When you feel love you are expansive, buoyant, free, effusive. Your soul enlarges and you have so much more to give. If you are a parent you’ve seen this in action each time you add a child to your family. You think there’s no way you can feel as much love for your next child as you do for the one before. But love multiplies and there is always plenty more where that came from!
In his book The Power of God’s Love, John Groberg said, “God’s love fills the immensity of space; therefore, there is no shortage of love in the universe…When filled with God’s love we can do and see and understand things that we could not otherwise do or see or understand…“
Make the journey within, create your intention to feel love, (yes even for your enemies) and then notice what happens. As love expands the container of your self, your ability to receive, experience and process emotions will increase as well! And this leads to feelings of contentment, joy and satisfaction. I love the saying by Joseph B Wirthlin, “Come what may, and love it.”
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