Are You Carrying Emotional Baggage?

By: Mark Webb
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:41:15
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher | Social Bookmarking
Rating:
 

Do you ever get the feeling that something in your life is missing? That you're not reaching your fullest potential? Are you plagued by unresolved issues from your past? One of the biggest mistakes we make in life is closing ourselves up emotionally. We attempt to deny that the emotional pain is inside. We run from it as hard as we can. However, as much as we try to hide from these feelings, they still follow us everywhere we go. Hence, the term "emotional baggage."

Were you taught to be strong, to always keep going regardless of the pain? Do you listen to the well-intended advice to "get over it"? Pushing your feelings to the side or covering them up is a good short-term solution, or so it falsely appears. The problem arises when we continue to push these feelings down day after day, week after week and year after year. Whenever you avoid dealing with your emotions, they eventually will pile up to a point that the feelings will overwhelm you. Holding onto resentments, grief, guilt, shame and will set you up to have problems with depression, anxiety and physical symptoms such as headaches, high blood pressure, and stomach problems.

No one is immune to their feelings. By avoiding our feelings, we begin to distort how we see ourselves; how we view relationships and how we see the world we live in. It's OK to be strong, but the complete statement needs to be "I can be strong and still have my needs and my feelings."

It is not a sign of weakness to acknowledge your feelings. There are both appropriate and inappropriate ways to share your feelings. When you are having tough times in life, there are often people around you who can provide the comfort and support you need. You must learn to seek them out. Do not set yourself up as an island fortress. Seek out friends, family members, church leaders, and your human resource department at work or local therapists through either the public or private practices.

You have a responsibility to yourself and those you care about to take care of yourself. This includes your emotional well being. You are bigger than your feelings regardless as to how intense they may seem. Your secrets make you sick. Seek freedom from your pain. Allow yourself to process your feelings. You'll be glad you did. The truth will set you free. Remember, we are all in this together.

Mark Webb is the author of How To Be A Great Partner and founder of Partner Focused Relationships™. Sign up for Mark Webb’s “Relationship Strategies” Ezine ($100 Value). Just visit his website at http://www.powerfulrelationshipadvice.com or http://www.therelationshipspecialist.com

Article source: Expert Articles

Most Recent Articles in Self Improvement category

  • Hypnosis CDs for Smoking and Weight Loss - By: Crizza Reyes
    There is a saying in hypnotism that "all hypnosis is self hypnosis." This is true in the respect that hypnosis is a personal and internal experience and can only be allowed by the individual, not forced upon you.
  • Happiness by Wish Granting - By: Danoel Galliatta
    It is located in the second sentence of the U.S. Declaration of Independence: we are given the right to pursue happiness. However, many individuals do not know what to do to accomplish this.
  • Achieving Higher Levels of Spirituality in Psychic Development - By: Rose Ann Schwab
    "How do we reach higher levels of spirituality?" This is the question that I am asked most in my practice.
  • Cahuenga Renaissance - By: Kyle Wong
    The past several years have seen Cahuenga rendered from grimy strip to cheeky corridor. It is no longer a last ditch effort for desperate partiers to cut loose.
  • Qi Dao Coaching and Qigong Healing - By: Lama Somananda Tantrapa
    Thousands of years ago, Qigong formed the foundation of Oriental medicine and needs to be regarded as such.
  • Alternative Notions of Life, a Different Path (7): Heartbreak and the "Thank You Trick." - By: Carl "J.C." Pantejo
    In the midst of heartbreak, many of my readers have asked me (repeatedly) how to cope with all their negative emotions. Almost all of them desperately wanted some quick way to stem the flow of bad feelings. "I can't stop feeling lousy and I cry at the drop of a hat. Isn't there some kind of fast, simple "trick" to get me back to some semblance of normality?" They asked, almost hysterically..
  • How to Discover the Interlife Through Hypnosis - By: Dr Georgina Cannon
    Even Oprah is a believer! You can heal yourself, find out why you are the way you are, why certain things motivate or scare you, and how to live this life to the fullest when you use hypnosis to venture into the Interlife.
  • How to Forgive after Your Divorce - By: Shelley Stile
    Forgiveness is a miraculous act that serves as a release valve that propels us forward into a new life after divorce. To forgive is to be truly free, to be unencumbered by the past.
  • The Four "Insider" Keys to Accelerated Learning Success - By: Peter Julian
    The purpose of this brief article is to give you a "quick and dirty" look at the subject of accelerated learning; what it is, the keys to making it work, and its exciting promise for the future.
  • Psychological Methods, Systems and Techniques - By: Ashutosh Ghildiyal
    An article on the dangers of mind manipulation and psychological habits. Talks about the usage of psychological methods, systems and techniques as deterimental to intelligence and overall well-being.