Thinking About Emotions vs. Feeling Emotions

Thinking about our emotions isn’t the same as feeling our emotions.

The first step in healing overeating is often coming to an intellectual awareness of what our feelings are.

We become aware of what we are feeling day by day, and what we have felt deep down most of our life.

We start to understand more about our childhood and what created the roots of our food addictions.

Many people get to a point where they've made some progress, but then get stuck: they can talk about their childhood and feelings all day, and yet they still binge.

Why?

Because thinking about our emotions isn't the same as feeling them.

Intellectual awareness isn't the same as emotionally experiencing our feelings.

Don't get me wrong: that first step of intellectual awareness is vital! It's all about truth and seeking more truth, which is required for emotion to flow.

But we need to step beyond thinking and getting into feeling.

How do you know if you're feeling an emotion versus thinking about one?

One of the distinctions is that when you're feeling an emotion, you will look like a 2-year old who is feeling that emotion.

When a 2-year old is sad, they cry and sob. When they're angry they stomp, throw things, scream (by the way, you should do this alone). When a 2-year old is afraid they might also cry and shake and tremble.

Feeling emotion is physical, it's vocal, and it happens with your body, in your body, and through your body.

You also know you're feeling emotions when you feel some relief, relaxation and peace after you go through an emotional experience.

Feeling emotions releases them from you! Thinking about emotions does not.

For more information on what it actually looks and feels like to feel emotions, you can watch this video that I made a couple years ago on this topic.

Also, the Divine Truth YouTube channel is the best resource on this topic that I have come across.

All the best with moving from your head to your heart.

Photo by Mario Dobelmann via Unsplash