Does it sometimes not feel true to say “it’s something in me”? Read on…
Angela writes:
The other day I was starting to say “something inside me feels…..” but as I went to say it there was a voice/feeling that wouldn’t let me say it but rather was saying, “It’s not just something, it’s all of you that feels like this.”
Do you have any tips on how to proceed when something like this occurs?
Dear Angela:
You know that very often it helps to acknowledge our feelings and our stressful thoughts by saying, “Something in me feels….” or “Something in me says….”
It helps because we’re not pushing the feeling or thought away, but we’re also not getting swallowed up by it.
“Yes, it’s here… and I am here with it.”
Knowing that you are here even when you have big feelings, and you are able to accompany those feelings, makes such a huge difference. You have a relationship with those feelings or thoughts… with the parts of you that have those feelings or thoughts.
Ideally this is a gentle relationship of compassion and curiosity. It’s what Barbara McGavin and I call “the environment of change.”
But what if it doesn’t feel like “something,” it feels like all of you!
Well, I wouldn’t fight. If I hear inside, “It’s not just something, it’s all of you that feels like this,” I would simply say “OK, I hear you. It’s all of me.”
And then I’d say, “I am sensing it feels like all of me feels this way.”
You see, even if it doesn’t feel true to call this “something in me,” you can still say “I am sensing.” In other words, you can still be in a compassionate and curious relationship with this “all of me” that is here.
There’s never a need to argue with what we feel. It is how it is. Being present with that, as it is, makes all the difference.
