Feelings and Emotions

For many years my feelings and emotions were a continual source of frustration and discontent.  I would experience the gamut of feelings from being anxious, to  jealous, to angry and fearful and beyond – and I felt out of control and unable to do anything about them.  After all, how could I control how I felt or how I reacted to things going on around me that were by happenstance?

I didn’t like my behavior at those moments, yet there was nothing I could do about it.  Others around me were behaving in many of the same ways.  I observed the jealousy when a peer was promoted and became the supervisor of a previous co-worker.  I saw the fear and later anger when people lost their jobs.

Beyond the workplace, we each deal with feelings and emotions involving our personal lives.  Who has not felt jealousy when a boyfriend or girlfriend was flirting, or the anger, hurt or jealousy when a breakup happens?

Guilt was another emotion I dealt with often.  I felt guilty after eating that sweet thing I knew I should not eat or I would feel guilty about saying ‘no’ to someone, so I said ‘yes’.

Once I remember feeling guilty upon earning a salary increase which meant that I would be earning more than my than husband.

It was by chance that I happened to be reading an article that pointed out ‘no one can make you guilty without your permission’ or ‘Their behavior isn’t making you angry.  You make a choice to be angry.’

Hmmmmm…..I was stumped.

I didn’t understand it right away, but my eyes were eventually opened [click to continue…]

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