{"id":78696,"date":"2022-09-13T15:33:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T19:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=78696"},"modified":"2022-09-16T13:35:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T17:35:03","slug":"how-to-process-emotions-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-process-emotions-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Process Emotions and Let Them Go"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you tend to bury or dwell on difficult emotions<\/a>, struggling to let them go? What are the dangers of repressing your emotions? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unpleasant and difficult emotions are an inevitable part of life. If you don\u2019t learn how to process emotions<\/a> in a healthy way, you\u2019ll struggle with maintaining healthy relationships<\/a>, keeping up with your work duties, and even being able to relax and have fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn about ways to process your emotions and let them go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Your Emotions Shape Your Behavior<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You have emotional responses to almost everything you experience in your day-to-day life. Though many of your responses may seem minor, they\u2019re important because your emotional reactions develop into patterns of behavior.<\/em> Therefore, knowing how to process emotions in a healthy way is the key to becoming an adaptable, well-adjusted, and resilient individual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separating From Your Emotional Pain Body<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As unprocessed emotions accumulate throughout your life, they add to the emotional baggage that weighs you down and prevents you from finding inner peace<\/a>. Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle refers to it as the emotional \u201cpain-body,\u201d which starts with painful experiences from childhood, and every experience that brings you emotional pain<\/a> is added to the collection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pain-body feeds on the negative energy that is created when you get swept up in the emotions it produces and identify with the pain-body. Events, conversations, and thoughts can trigger the pain-body, especially if it hits a nerve with a familiar pain pattern from the past. When your pain-body is triggered, it can cause you to be irritated, impatient, somber, angry, depressed, or antagonistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Say your pain-body includes many experiences of feeling like you could never live up to your older brother\u2019s achievements. So when your parents tell you about the new house your brother just bought, it is likely to trigger your pain-body. In response, you might feel angry, defensive, or inferior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the pain-body is in control, you become a victim or a perpetrator, either inflicting pain on others or yourself. This feeds negative energy back into the pain-body and strengthens its power, creating a vicious cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To free yourself from carrying the pain and being consumed in the negative energy it creates, you need to stop identifying with your pain body<\/a>. Because the pain body<\/a> is a product of ego, the way to disidentify from it is to separate your true self<\/a> from the ego is by observing it and resisting engaging with the thoughts, emotions, and negative energy the emotional pain-body creates. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separating yourself can be very difficult because the pain-body accumulates so much negative energy that it creates a powerful force of negative thoughts and emotions<\/a>. You have to focus deliberately on observing these without getting sucked in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you observe your pain-body\u2014even if it\u2019s just for a moment, before the negative energy pulls you back in\u2014you can see that there is a part of you that is not consumed by your pain-body, that is merely witnessing it. What\u2019s more, with time and practice you begin to learn your pain-body\u2019s tricks and tendencies. The more you do this, the more power you have to stop identifying with the pain-body and break its power over you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re worked up and angry because someone just insulted you, try to stop for a moment and take a step back. If you can pull yourself away from embodying that anger, you can observe the situation almost as a third party: \u201cShe just said that I\u2019m lazy, and it was really offensive. I got upset because I am absolutely not lazy, and in fact I work incredibly hard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a deeper level, it\u2019s very important to me that people recognize me as a hard-working person, and she hit a nerve by saying the opposite. The reality is that whether she\u2014or anyone else\u2014acknowledges it or not makes no difference in the work I put forth. (Furthermore, it might be worth examining why<\/em> it\u2019s so important to me that people recognize me as a hard-working person.)\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you observe your pain-body, do not judge: Don\u2019t call it bad or good. Don\u2019t blame yourself for feeling that way or succumbing to the pain-body\u2019s power. Don\u2019t blame others for triggering it. Just observe it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n