by margaret hillcroft

Created on: November 21, 2008

"Emotion.- a conscious mental reaction (as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body "[Webster]

What I love about emotion is its relationship to movement. E-motion is e-motive, it is feeling which pushes us through life, creates change and takes us forward on its energy. If we are shut down emotionally, we stagnate and grow stale. Normally emotions flow and we keep growing and developing. If, by suppression or oppression of our natural emotional responses to life, we can get "stuck" in a certain emotional state. This is not a healthy way to be and it is important that we take conscious action to open up to these trapped emotions and set ourselves free to live fully once more with issues from the past dealt with and filed away under "R" for "resolved"

Our bodies hold emotions. Emotional responses to past events, if they are not freely expressed at the time, can get stored in our bodies and begin to create a pathology. They can become fossilised within us and create a state of atrophy. Unexpressed sobbing gets stored in our solar plexus area, rage can get stored in our lungs, the desire to run away can become stiff leg muscles, miserliness can cause arthritic hands which are permanently in a state of grasping and we can get back ache, sore throats, headaches, constipation and a myriad of other physical symptoms caused by blocked emotions and unresolved issues. Everyday expressions show how emotions relate to the physical body. We use terms like "Get it off your chest" and "Spit it out" . We refer to people as being " a pain in the butt" or "tight fisted" and call constant moaners "belly achers" who give us "earache"

Carrying all these old feelings around in your body is like carrying around bags full of garbage. It takes a lot of energy and can leave you exhausted. At night , when you need to be resting, feelings have a way of attempting to surface from the depths of the subconscious when you are not looking and that can cause sleeplessness or nightmares. It is important to take time in your emotional life to sort out the rubbish and get rid of emotional garbage you are carrying around which you no longer need and which is taking up space which could be filled with new experiences and energy. Letting go of old emotional stuff is really important because you cannot "put new wine into old bottles" as it says in the Bible.

How do you

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