What can you do to escape from feeling bad?

I find the first step out of feeling really bad, whether it’s sad, angry, depressed, or any other raw emotion, is to tell the truth about what I am feeling. Sounds obvious, but how many times do we do just about anything in order not to feel bad?

This morning I was feeling down in the dumps. I had low energy and no passion for my work or the day’s activities. Usually at these times, I keep moving, pretending I’m fine, counting on actions to keep me from feeling bad. I’ll keep extra busy today, I hear myself thinking.

Sometimes, I don’t want to even say on paper what I’m feeling because I judge the feelings to be a betrayal to something or someone, especially when it’s someone I love very much. In fact, I don’t want to believe I can feel such ugly stuff. It damages how I think and feel about myself.

Then I remember I can love someone, including myself, and also have feelings of great anger, or disappointment, or fear, or jealousy—you name it. Feelings just are. Oftentimes they need to be felt and acknowledged instead of pushed down or ignored.

Today I chose to stop and feel. I sat on the couch and allowed my thoughts and feelings to surface. I wrote of inadequacy, lacklusterness, sluggishness, and resentments. I wrote a bunch of icky stuff, letting it all come up and out.

The message came in a feeling of everything is OK, even though I’m having lots of uncomfortable feelings about what I’m doing and not doing. I gained a renewed sense of trusting myself and my work. Next thing I knew, I was reaching for the book I’m studying. I read and took some notes, and got up to get ready for the day. Yay!

Is it really that easy? The hardest part is choosing to be with the feeling instead of rejecting it as unworthy in some way. If we were to allow it, the message we receive might make a big difference in how we live and experience that day.