What you're feeling makes perfect sense
Given what you're going through
Your emotions are not a problem. Your emotions are valid and valuable.
There are no “negative” emotions. Not anger. Not sadness. Not shame. Each of these is signaling a need: to protect, to soothe, to learn, to heal.
Never let anyone (even yourself) tell you that you shouldn’t feel the way you feel.
Our emotions help us understand what’s happening around and within us. They help us understand what we need. And they help us connect with and share these needs with others.
When we become literate in our own emotions, we see that they are always arising and moving through, like the weather. If we suppress them, resist them, indulge them, we will be lost in the storm whether we know it or not. But if we can recognize emotions as they arise (mindfulness practice helps us do this) and honor the needs they signal, our lives become richer, make more sense and we can find ease, even in a hurricane.
This week’s newsletter (or Instagram post, rather) is a short one for two reasons.
The first is that I’m working on a post about conflict and I want to take a bit more time to collect input from folks in my Instagram Stories. Head on over there if you have thoughts (or fears) about conflict in your work and/or life.
Secondly, I took Friday off and spent most of my three-day weekend working on a 1000-piece puzzle with my family. It was the best possible use of time I could imagine.
Get some rest and find some joy, friends.