The most important relationship that we have in our adult lives is the relationship that we have with ourselves, our relationship with our emotions.
If our eyes are the windows of our soul, then our emotions are the voice of our soul.
Our emotions connect us to the deepest parts of our inner selves. They are our connection to our inner knowing, to our inner voice. They connect us to the very core of how we feel about ourselves, about others and about life itself.
When we talk about self-esteem, we are talking about a reflection of our true inner sense of well-being, a picture of our deepest, inner sense of self value. Our self-esteem is a reflection of the way that we feel about ourselves.
Our self-esteem is a picture of the well-being of our soul, and our emotions will let us know what kind of shape we are in.
Human beings are relational, this is how we grow and this is how we develop. We are in a continual state of relating, a continuous state of relational evolution.
Our emotions form the connection between all elements of ourselves, and all aspects of our lives, both inner and outer. They are the absolute expression of relatedness and of relationship. They give voice to the exchange of everything that is taking place in our pure and real experience.
And yet so many of us have never learned to listen to ourselves. We have never learned to develop a relationship with ourselves, with our emotions, indeed many people have learned to be frightened of what they feel.
Our emotions, our feelings, are our navigational system. They give us information. And from the very deepest parts of ourselves, they give us a voice. And this voice in turn, generates emotionally charged energy.
Our emotions infuse thought and action with power.
Our emotions are invisible and yet everything that we create and generate, both good and bad, helpful and unhelpful, is fueled into being by raw emotional energy. And this energy is directional.
Human beings are emotionally driven. Our emotionally charged energy can be constructive beyond measure, or destructive beyond measure, depending upon the direction or channel through which it's arriving into the world.>
It can be channeled for the good, or it can be channeled for the bad. As adults we have a choice in this. We only have to look around us, or pick up a newspaper, to recognize and see the sheer scale of emotionally fueled situations, as well as the sheer scale of the outcomes.
The power of raw emotion is extraordinary. I'm sure that we can all think of situations where people overcome difficulty or generate some extraordinary happening in the world benefiting others and generating hope and well-being. These are profoundly powerful, emotionally driven situations that are overflowing with good.
We feel moved by them, we feel touched. Something has reached into us and touched us at the very deepest level of our being.
The kinds of situations that I am talking about, touch our hearts, and touch our souls.
Likewise I am sure that we can also think of profoundly powerful, emotionally driven situations that are incredibly destructive, and damaging. These situations are also highly emotionally charged, but they are not overflowing with good and they are almost certainly fueled by fear.
Bearing witness to these events also reaches inside of us and touches us at the very deepest level of our being. When we bear witness to the power of human destructiveness, it is literally, soul destroying.
Our emotions are always live and online. They are in a continual state of movement, a continual state of relationship. Our emotions are fluid and like water they flow through the channels that we provide for them. And as this takes place our raw highly charged emotional energy becomes directional.
Our mind is the tool that interprets the information that our emotions are giving us. It is our mind that puts us in the driving seat and enables us to decide which direction we want to go in, how fast we want to go, when to change gear and when to put the brakes on.
Our emotions give us the navigational information that we need in order to make decisions and our emotions put fuel in the tank, and oil in the engine, giving us the driving force and the energy to create opportunity and possibility.
The meeting of our mind with our emotions is a powerful relationship. And in your adult life, this relationship will be the most influential and significant relationship that you will ever have.
The health of any relationship will be determined by the health of its communication and by its mutual understanding and relational flow and exchange.
Without an emotional language our relationship with ourselves will be fraught with difficulty. And yet most of us have never learned to listen to ourselves and rarely even think about our emotional health as an absolute priority..... until something goes wrong.