“My feelings were trying to tell me something important, but I thought they were attempting to take over. And I wasn’t about to let them take control. Your feelings aren’t trying to control you — they are trying to tell you something.“- Jennifer Allen
In Chapter 2 (“All Tangled Up”) of Untangle Your Emotions, Jennifer Allen states that she considered her fix-it nature as a gift. A spiritual gift, in fact. But in her journey to untangle her emotions, Jennifer came to see things in a very different light.
However, Jennifer admits, in her busyness fixing stuff she neglected her feeling part. Because when you preoccupy yourself with fixing feelings, it’s impossible to feel them. Certainly, the author states, we also tend to resist examining our feelings. For part of human nature involves the temptation to fix problems. Instead of sitting with them. Therefore, Jennifer underscores: Feelings were never meant to be fixed; feelings are meant to be felt.
Yet, Jennifer’s fix-it approach kept her safe — or so she believed. In addition, her belief worked for some time. And as she learned to deflect her feelings with the best of them, she learned to deny her true feelings.
But Jennifer felt guilt even on a dream day. Because when any joy or happiness, sprang up, she felt discomfort. Since she ignored other things needing her attention. However, all of this came with a downside, for nobody knew what was actually going on with Jennifer. Not even Jennifer!
In conclusion, the author observes, she felt something was terribly wrong. Because she failed to feel anything. So, even though Jennifer knew something was amiss and that she needed to figure it out, the tangle felt impossible to undo.
Yet, she found a glimmer of hope:
“What I didn’t realize then, but I’m starting to grasp now, is that I was in the best possible position, which was there in the presence of God, where the only feeling I seemed capable of was the simple desire to heal and grow.”
Today’s question: When do you feel that your feelings are trying to control you? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “
