You know I'm the queen of reminding you to listen to your heart over your head. 10/10 times I believe with my soul that are gut/heart guides us. Of course I also know it can be very, very hard to hear it.
But I want to talk on something that isn't taught enough in my opinion. Action on feelings vs acting on emotions. I don't believe in acting on emotions. There is a big difference. A feeling is much deeper in the core than an emotion, and emotions can come from all sorts of causes. Stored trauma in your body can be triggered by something unrelated and cause emotions to come up that are unrelated to your present reality, or the choice in front of you.
That being said, I am not in any way throwing emotions under the table or saying you shouldn't feel them or validate them. I think you should give ALL THE SPACE in the world to fully feel any emotion, let it pass through you to the full extent and don't push it away. I am saying that strong emotions are not necessary indicators of a choice to make. They are indicators, but perhaps indicators telling you something else. Or coming up so you can face or heal an old wound.
FEELING
When I refer to a feeling, it is your inner guidance system, inner GPS, your compass in your heart, your gut brain, etc. It is just an un-explainable feeling in your body that you just say
"I just feel I should go left". "I can't explain it, but I just feel like I should go to that college".
That is what I mean by your gut brain. Because the answer does not necessary have a reason, it just is you being led.
EMOTION
On the other hand emotion is much more wavering. Your sleep, your hormones, how you are taking care of yourself, what happened in your past, etc. Things like these can all factor in to your emotions.
What is an emotion? It is just a chemical reaction in your body.
"Once you notice you are feeling a particular way, then you generate more thoughts equal to how you’re feeling, and then you release more chemicals from your brain to make you feel the way you’ve been thinking. For example, if you have a fearful thought, you start to feel fear. The moment you feel fear, that emotion influences you to think more fearful thoughts, and those thoughts trigger the release of even more chemicals in the brain and body that makes you continue to feel fear. The next thing you know, you get caught in a loop where thinking creates feeling and you’re feeling creates thinking" (Dr. Joe Dispenza)
Don't trust your emotion or your thoughts. Just because you think :
"I am so tired and I worked so hard, so I am not going to go to the pilates class I promised myself I would go to." THAT IS A THOUGHT YOU HAD. You as the chooser have the agency to say "Hmm, thanks brain! I am actually going to still go to pilates but thanks".
Sometimes you will feel guided and led to a certain direction, and then you go to where you are led. And the brain doing what it does best, trying to protect you, will think of a million "what ifs" that spiral and spiral and ultimately winds up with a scenario of you dying. Want to know why? Because you are doing something DIFFERENT. And UNKNOWN. And the brain and the body do not like that. They would prefer staying riiiiight where you are.
If your body is used to the chemical reactions that fire from moping and complaining, than you start to feel those emotions and then you start to think of more things to complain about so your brain and body will continue to produce more chemicals that keep the feeling the same. Do you see the pattern. IT JUST WANTS TO BE THE SAME. It does not care if it is good or bad, happy or sad. COMFORT and FAMILIARITY is all it cares about.
Questions to Ponder When You Feel Confused
How was I feeling in the moment when I first got the idea, when I first felt led here?
What am I really scared of? What am I trying to protect?
Is there something I don't want to let go of?
What is the best case scenario of going forward?
How likely are my fears even going to come true?
If I decide to back out, will I feel disappointed in myself?
Will I feel relieved that I don't have to change my behavior and my life, or will I feel a peaceful release?
I love teaching on this topic! Please comment or DM me on Instagram to chat more about it!
XOXO
Annie
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