The Influence Of Emotions on Our Individual and Collective Well-Being
I believe emotions play a huge role in our individual and collective well-being. I believe emotions are important messages from our inner selves, and that it’s vital for us to listen to the messages they bring forth to our consciousness, so that we can take necessary steps on the basis of what they have to say.
Emotions Influence Our Relationship with Ourselves and With Society
For a long time, I didn’t know how to handle my painful emotions. And I’ve noticed throughout my life that often, many of us don’t really know how to handle our painful emotions or the painful emotions of those around us.
I sometimes wish there are mandatory exams in school on dealing with tough emotions. So that we can handle difficult situations and interactions with a lot of grace when they come up. I’d like to see that society at large acknowledges the importance of emotions — in schools, workplaces, and mostly in judiciary and regulatory systems, which have an important role in shaping people’s life experience. I find it problematic if we don’t take painful emotions into consideration, if we dismiss and ignore them, or even condemn and punish them, because emotions play a crucial role in all the actions we take, and on the quality of our life.
And unfortunately, it is only a person who is cut off emotionally who can bring much harm to another, just as a person who empathizes with another can lend a helping hand in a time of great need.
Along my life journey, it took me suffering and then self-education, until I learnt to respect my emotions and treat them as valid — particularly the painful ones. I used to run away from them, only to realize that they run faster then me and eventually still catch me up. Or, I used to want to bury them deeper and deeper, until I realized that they’d still come back to the surface, with even more pressure. I used to want to cover them up just to make them go away, only to realize that they’d still burst with more intensity.
If we seek to sweep our painful emotions into oblivion as soon as possible even if the issues remained unresolved, that only makes matters worse in the long run. Much like an ignored wound, which gets infected if it isn’t acknowledged and treated.
Emotions Are Important Messengers
My suffering has taught me that the best way to deal with my painful emotions is to listen to the messages they have to tell and to feel them, to really feel them. And once we hear and acknowledge them, they can subside. Then, we can decide on the best course of action based on the insights transmitted.
Thus, emotions are important messengers. Sometimes grief shows up to let us know about a deep desire that we’d like to manifest, but which is not here yet but for which we need to take action, or about a change we’d better make in our life. Or, deep sorrow shows up to have us pay attention to an old wound that needs to be healed. Sometimes anger shows up to let us know about an important boundary that has been crossed. Other times, joy shows up to let us know that we are on the right path. Or excitement shows up to translate aliveness into our internal guidance system and have us become aware of what fills us with Life.
Listening to the messengers and respecting what they have to say, that’s the wisest choice we can make. Cutting emotions from our decision-making frameworks in Society is unwise in the long run. Taking emotions into consideration in our personal lives and in all of our institutions — educational, legislative, health, etc. — is ultimately conducive to more health and happiness; not only for Humanity, but also the plant and animal realms and the environment at large. At least, this is what I’ve come to believe.
Final Thoughts
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this article, and that I managed to convey how I feel about emotions. May you take care good care of your emotions. As final thoughts on this topic, please allow me to share a poem from Part V. Matters of the Metaphysical, from my poetry book Embraced by Love:
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