Feeling is Living!
Together we can rise with a greater sense of strength, gratitude, and hope.
If there is ever a time to come together to rise through the pain, and a sense of loss, it is now! We are all seeing a great deal of pain and suffering because of the Coronavirus. Loss of lives, loss of our human ability to connect at a physical level, and loss of income, amongst so much more…
The Coronavirus is an event of great magnitude whose ripple effects are being felt across the globe now and which will be felt for generations to come.
As someone who grew up in New York, who now has family members who contracted the virus, and as someone who along with so many other families who are experiencing the financial business uncertainty, I feel a profound sense of pain and loss.
As my daughter and I spoke about how to feel better, I told her how we needed to allow ourselves to experience the pain and sense of loss for as tragic as it is, it is part of life itself. As humans, we have created an extremely fast societal pace, fixated on moving on, or on quick fixes. We do not want to experience pain. Specially the unprecedented abrupt physical and economic pain caused by the Coronavirus.
As a result, we make no time to acknowledge our, or someone else’s pain and sense of loss. Unknowingly, we may be overlooking opportunities to understand the value of life in us and in other people, in animals, and in nature. We may be overlooking opportunities to learn life-long lessons full of wisdom through each interaction with our family members, friends, and colleagues by just being present physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Our daughter and her husband also related to the pain, as they also had to close their business. Their children’s events which they worked on for months were also cancelled. As we spoke, we listened to, and supported each other’s pain. I am sharing this experience with you knowing and hoping that we can rise together.
Understanding our pain and loss: Emotions are at the intersection of all human interactions. In some cultures, showing our emotions is often deemed as a sign of weakness. In my personal and professional experience as a mental health clinician, I have learned that while emotions are being dismissed, different thoughts and feelings are raging inside to ultimately be reflected in a sense of being overwhelmed, or powerless.
This can lead to a mental, and or, social disconnect that fuels unhealthy aggressive behaviors such as: avoiding or dismissing others, being sarcastic, snapping or lashing out at others. Over time, this ongoing dynamic can result in high levels of anxiety, depression, and disruption of relationships which can be prevented.
Pain and loss are part of life itself: When we acknowledge our pain and sense of loss, we are intentionally pausing. We are giving ourselves permission to experience the emotions which we have penned up inside, which otherwise will eventually come out when we least expect it, in what we think, say, and do.
Feeling is living! It is a spontaneous natural part of being alive, of honoring our presence and those that we connect with. Our feelings are the root of empathy which help us better understand how other people, and other life forms may feel. As a result, we can better understand ourselves and others while developing a sense of empathy to be there for each other, connect and co-exist. Through this process we can support each other during challenging times, or crisis that affect us at a personal, interpersonal, economic, and collective level in our society. A natural consequence of helping others is that it alleviates and reduces our individual pain, or shared pain.
Feeling is Living:
Our greatest courage is our willingness to feel and understand our emotions, which include feeling; afraid, safe, peaceful, angry, joyful, or sad amongst many more…It is a personal experience, yet part of our common human experience.
It is the way to experience the raw elements in life and become resilient. Through our personal experiences with joy, sadness, pain, or uncertainty we can emerge with a greater sense of inner strength, empathy, gratitude and hope on a personal and collective level in our communities, cities, and our global society.
It is with that innate human ability that we can best develop healthy personal and social skills to deal with adversity as well as feeling a greater sense of gratitude for the personal experience of being alive and sharing life with others. Feeling is living! Our emotions are the voice of life itself courageously asking our brain to listen, to reflect on our feelings and to truly experience life.