Introducing The Emotions Series
Most of us, even those of us with the most loving and well-meaning caregivers and teachers, did not receive an emotional education. We learned to use a fork, to tie our shoes, to read and tell time. To share and to wait our turn. But not about the anger of having to share, or the frustration of waiting, or the embarrassment of being the last to read.
During childhood and adolescence, when we were feeling so many new things and feeling them so intensely, we rarely learned anything about our emotions at all — except, perhaps, to conceal and ignore them.
All emotions are a normal, healthy, and inevitable part of being human. And from my perspective, feeling itself is a tremendous gift that helps give our lives richness and meaning. But many of us need some sort of map in order to navigate this inner world of emotion. We need to know what our feelings are and we need a healthy belief system around them. We need a vocabulary for identifying our feelings and tools for managing strong emotions when they arise.
The alternative is problematic and painful: if we don’t have the knowledge and skills to feel comfortable with our emotions, then the ways we try to avoid them and push them away will end up controlling us.
This is why I am launching The Emotions Series here on Little Gems: to offer small pieces of the emotional education that we’re missing. I hope something in these posts will help you understand and experience your feelings with more ease — no matter what age or life stage you are in this moment.
Because it’s never too late to learn something new, and it’s never to late to get free.