Freedom to feel

Emotional Freedom Techniques helps us process and feel uncomfortable emotions. As we learn to be comfortable with feeling our emotions, our capacity to allow any emotion move through our energy system grows. What this means in a practical way is we can process an emotion, no matter what it is, without having to dissociate from it or distract our self from feeling it. Feeling helps the emotion or energy move freely through our system so it doesn't short circuit. Emotional freedom is the freedom to feel any feeling, it doesn't mean freedom from feeling.

What causes a short circuit in our energy system? It seems that anything other than experiencing love and acceptance carries with it the potential for short circuiting our energy system. Love and acceptance feel good and flow through our system uninterrupted. Unless of course we are shut down to love because of being hurt or if we have not experienced love right from the beginning of life. Because if we can't allow our self to feel love, the experience of love can short circuit in our energy system. We can construct walls for protection, but the walls we build cut off this vital nourishment and our system atrophies. Love nourishes us in every way that we can be nourished.

Hurt, guilt, shame, anger, fear carry huge potential for short circuiting our systems, that is, until we learn how to feel or process these emotions. It's the reason why these emotions are often referred to as “negative” and why they can instil so much fear. This fear propels us with an urgency to tap the emotion away, get rid of it and avoid it so we don't have to feel it. When we can fully feel uncomfortable emotions, our resilience grows, we become stronger and our energy system evolves. All emotions are ultimately good for us when they are felt.

What helps us feel uncomfortable emotions? It appears that feeling loved right from the start of life gives us a head start in handling emotions. Feeling loved gives us resiliency, security and a strong foundation from which we can bend when the wind blows and not snap and break into pieces. When the having and the expression of different emotions are accepted and even encouraged, a sense of esteem and self worth blossoms. Feelings and the person who is having them, are taken seriously and respected which leads to self trust.

Learning how to feel our emotions as early as possible can save us from a lot of heartache later in life, but we can always choose to feel at any stage of our life. It takes courage to feel and EFT can help us accept, sit with and feel our emotions.