The significance of emotions, when it comes to whether or not we get sick, has never been appreciated by the medical model, with its focus on devices drugs and surgical procedures for restoring a sick body to wellness. Nonetheless, many modern healthcare professionals believe that our feelings and their suppression are an important cause of chronic illness.
It’s our poor handling of them that has to be addressed if we’re going to be able to leverage our god-given ability to withstand the inevitable stresses of our 21st century lives. Negative emotions need to be experienced and the best way to work with them is not to try to block distort or intellectualize them in any way.
Rather than suppress your emotions when they come up, you can use the following four-step protocol to vaporize them and allow them to dissolve on their own.
One: Acknowledge them. They are real and just because they exist they’re based in something that needs to be recognized.
Two: Observe them neutrally, without personalizing them.
Three: Feel them fully. What you resist persists, but after some time of deeply experiencing negative feelings, their strength will diminish.
Four: Love them and yourself. Feeling is part of being human and when we love whatever it is we feel, we’ll also be loving ourselves.
Our oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine will be up regulated and we will improve and strengthen our ability to deal with whatever it is life has in store for us.
