Feeling Your Emotions- Peace

This is the next instalment in Feeling Your Emotions series. I started it back in 2017. The intention was to look at different emotions (such as anger, sadness and depression, fear and anxiety, peace and love) and get in touch with them, to help heal and move forward. You can read the introduction here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

 

I wrote a recap of all the posts so far in 2022: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2022/09/feeling-your-emotions-recap.html

It's now been over 2 years since I wrote that. (And 8 years ago this month since I started the whole series!) After the recap post I planned to write more in the next few months, but didn't in the end. I've been feeling very up and down and struggling at times, and haven't felt very inspired to blog much here in general. (I've been more active on my entertainment blog Star Sparkle Blog and my seasonal living blog The Seasonal Life because I don't write about as "deep" subjects on there.) However, in recent months I've felt like picking the FYE series up again. 

As I mentioned in the recap, I started with the so-called "negative" emotions, intending to work my way up to more "positive" ones. I had planned to cover love or peace next but didn't feel in a space to write about them. When I'd written the last post, I intended that the next one in the series would be peace. So here it is, although later than planned! :)

Feeling Your Emotions Recap

Back in 2017 I started a series called Feeling Your Emotions. The intention was to look at different emotions (such as anger, sadness, fear, peace and love) and get in touch with them, to help heal and move forward. You can read the introduction here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

I  haven't done any new posts in the series for over 2 years (2 and a half years this month actually), so I felt like now was a good time to do a recap. I started with the so-called "negative" emotions, intending to work my way up to more "positive" ones. However, I didn't end up covering love or peace (which I intended to do next), since I just didn't feel in a space to write about them, especially with the events of the past two years.

I'm going to revisit the previous posts, plus take another look at emotions in general and then decide where to take FYE next.

Feeling Your Emotions- Happiness (Part 2)

This is the next post in the Feeling Your Emotions series. You can read the introduction here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)


So far in the series I've covered the so-called "negative" emotions- anger, sadness and depression, fear and anxiety and shame. Then I wrote a "neutral" post about the between point of "negative" and "positive" emotions before moving onto happiness. It's quite a big subject so I decided to split it into  a couple of posts. You can read Part 1 here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2020/01/feeling-your-emotions-happiness-part-1.html

Now I'm going to go deeper into the subject of "happiness".

Feeling Your Emotions- Happiness (Part 1)

This is the next post in the Feeling Your Emotions series. You can read the introduction here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)


I started this series over two years ago with the intent of exploring emotions and "feeling them to heal them". So far I've covered some of the so-called "negative" emotions- anger, sadness and depression, fear and anxiety and shame. Then the last post was a "neutral" one about the in between point of "negative" and "positive" emotions. That was in July, so it's taken me a while to get back to this. I wrote some other posts in between, including one called When You're Struggling which you can read here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/10/when-youre-struggling.html

Feeling Your Emotions- Neutral

 

This is the next post in the Feeling Your Emotions series. You can read the introduction here:
https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

I started this series in late 2017. So far I've covered what are deemed more "negative" emotions-  anger, sadness and depression, fear and anxiety and shame. The last post was in February, so it's been a while! As I said in the post Feeling Like a "Loser" (not part of the FYE series but kind of related), I feel that the next post should be a "neutral" one, so it's a sort of halfway point between the previous emotions, before moving onto the more "positive" ones such as happiness and love. 

I also mentioned the Abraham Hicks Emotional Guidance Scale, which you may have heard of if you follow the Law of Attraction (LOA). In LOA circles it's believed that it's not very easy to just "jump the scale" from something like discouragement (further down on the scale) to contentment (higher up). Kelsey Aida has a good introduction to the concept which you can see here: https://kelseyaida.com/theinspirationalblog/the-abraham-hicks-emotional-guidance-scale

Feeling Your Emotions- Shame

This is the next post in the Feeling Your Emotions series. You can read the introduction post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

So far I've covered anger, sadness and depression, and fear and anxiety. Now I'm moving onto shame.

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

When I first started this series I had a vague order to do it in. I started out with the more "negative" emotions. I think it makes sense to write about shame now because it's something you can also feel along with the other emotions already mentioned. For example you may feel shame for being angry, sad or scared. It's quite a heavy emotion and I felt some resistance to writing this post, but I feel it's an important subject. So let's start by looking more closely at shame. :)


What is shame?

Shame is described as "a painful feeling of humiliation and distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behaviour", and a "regrettable or unfortunate situation or action" (Oxford English dictionary), "a painful feeling that's a mix of regret, self-hate and dishonor" (Vocabulary.com) and "a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming or impropriety" (Merriam Webster). We can feel shame ourselves due to something we've said or done (although this may be more like guilt, see below), or because we feel not good enough. We "shame" others for doing or saying something we believe is wrong, or that goes against the general rules of society and we also use phrases such as "That's a shame" when something doesn't work out as planned.

Shame is not a "core emotion". The basic emotions are said to be happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise. (They've been grouped further into "joy-sadness", "anger-fear", "trust-distrust" and "surprise-anticipation". In fact some people believe it's not an emotion at all but an experience, like depression and anxiety. (In this context I'll explore it as an emotion, like with depression and anxiety in my earlier posts). Read more about basic emotions here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/hide-and-seek/201601/what-are-basic-emotions

Feeling Your Emotions- Fear and Anxiety (Part 2)

This is the next post in the Feeling Your Emotions series. You can read the introductory post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

Update 29/8/22: Several of the links have now gone or changed but I've updated where I can and added a couple of new ones. :)

I've previously covered Anger, Sadness and Depression and Fear and Anxiety. As I did with the other posts, fear and anxiety is divided into two parts. Part 1 which I wrote in October, looked at fear and anxiety themselves, the differences and similarities between them. Part 2 will look at feeling better, managing fear (like with sadness it's a normal human emotion, so we won't be able to get rid of it completely) and healing/coping with anxiety. You can read Part 1 here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/10/feeling-your-emotions-fear-and-anxiety.html

Now here is Part 2. While in the middle of writing this I ended up going through an anxious time. I intended to post it last month but never mind.

I'm going to look at fear and anxiety separately but sometimes things written in either section will overlap with the other. As well as looking at it from a psychological viewpoint, I'm also going to look at it from a spiritual perspective. :)


Worry

First I'll take a quick look at worry. So what's the difference between fear and worry? In Part 1 I mentioned how fear is more about a specific threat and anxiety is more of a vague unease. Fear has been defined as an "unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain and harm", "an unpleasant, often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger" and "a vital response to physical and emotional danger". Worry is when you think (or are afraid) that something bad is going to happen and you keep thinking about it, dwelling on it. Read more here: http://www.differencebetween.net/language/words-language/difference-between-the-words-fear-and-worry/

Feeling Your Emotions- Fear and Anxiety (Part 1)

This is the next post in the Feeling Your Emotions series. You can read the introductory post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html


Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)


I've previously covered Anger and Sadness and Depression. Now I'm moving onto fear and anxiety. Like I did with sadness and depression, I'll address fear and anxiety as two separate things. As with my previous posts I'll divide it into two parts; this part will look at fear and anxiety in general and the 2nd one will be about dealing with fear and worry, and healing anxiety/feeling better.

In my understanding, fear and anxiety are a bit different, but it is confusing. "Anxiety" is these days termed as a mental health disorder. I myself have what's called "health anxiety", also known as hypochondria. My type of anxiety has also been termed "phobic anxiety". I would say I also have generalised anxiety (GAD) and social anxiety (although to a lesser extent). I don't believe I've been officially diagnosed with the last two though. Let's look more closely at the differences between fear and anxiety.

Some people believe that fear relates to a specific threat whereas anxiety is more a vague unease.
Hilary Jacobs Hendel, author of It's Not Always Depression which I recently read, defines fear as a "core emotion". The core emotions are sadness, fear, anger, joy, excitement, sexual excitement and disgust. For more on this and the Change Triangle, a healing process and guide to feeling better, visit this link: https://www.hilaryjacobshendel.com/what-is-the-change-triangle-c18dd

Feeling Your Emotions- Sadness and Depression (Part 2)

This is the latest post in my Feeling Your Emotions series. So far I've looked at Anger and Sadness and Depression. You can read the Introduction post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

I split Sadness and Depression into two parts. Last month I did the first part which you'll find at this link: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/07/feeling-your-emotions-sadness-and.html

Now here is Part 2. :)

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

Last time I looked at sadness and depression in general. In this post I'm going to be focusing on feeling better and healing. As I mentioned in Part 1, the focus is on healing depression, since sadness is a natural state that we all feel at some point. But I'm also talking about feeling better in general as well.


Self harm and suicide

Note: I'm discussing quite sensitive subjects, so please read with caution if you feel you may be triggered. :)

Important: If you are feeling suicidal here are some links to where you can find people qualified to help you right now:

http://lostallhope.com/help-me


UK/UK and Ireland specific:

Samaritans: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help-you/contact-us

NHS links (UK based): https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/suicide/ 

Childline (for children and young people): https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/your-feelings/mental-health/suicide/


Australia and New Zealand: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/getting-help/emergency

US and UK: https://psychcentral.com/lib/telephone-hotlines-and-help-lines/


International:

https://ibpf.org/resource/list-of-international-suicide-hotlines/

https://www.befrienders.org/other-helpline-organisations

https://www.nowmattersnow.org/help-line

https://metanoia.org/suicide/

Update 12/9/22: I was getting an antivirus warning for the Metanoia link above and the page wasn't  loading (the Suicide link specifically).But it seems to be ok again now.

Feeling Your Emotions- Sadness and Depression (Part 1)

This is the next post in my Feeling Your Emotions series. It follows on from Anger- Part 1 and Anger- Part 2. You can read the Introduction post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

Note: It's taken me a while to write this, I think like with anger, it's not a particularly easy subject. As with the Anger posts, I've decided to break it into two parts. This post will focus on sadness and depression in general, and the 2nd part will look into healing and what you can do to feel better in general.

I've titled this post "Sadness and Depression" because I believe they're different in the way that sadness is a natural state that everyone feels at some point in their life, whereas depression is more of an intense, prolonged sadness and it's classed as a mental health condition. I've also heard depression described as "anger turned inwards". So I'm looking at them both. For more on the differences you can read these articles:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-squeaky-wheel/201510/the-important-difference-between-sadness-and-depression

https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/depression-vs-sadness#symptoms

Update 4/11/19: This post explains it well: https://www.blurtitout.org/2018/01/04/understand-difference-sadness-depression/

Feeling Your Emotions- Anger (Part 2)

In February I wrote my first post on the Feeling Your Emotions series on the subject of anger. You can read the Introduction post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

I decided to write two posts on Anger and you can read Part 1 here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/02/feeling-your-emotions-anger-part-1.html

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

In the first post I wrote about anger itself and how suppressing it can be bad for you. I also talked about accepting anger. This post will focus more on releasing it. It's taken me a while to get back to this, since, as I said in my first post, I don't think anger's an easy subject to talk/write about. But I'm trying my best. :)

First of all, here is a good article I've found about anger management: https://pathwaytohappiness.com/blog/anger-management/

Feeling Your Emotions- Anger (Part 1)

In November I started my Feeling Your Emotions post series. You can read the first post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html


Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

As I mentioned in the Introduction, I'm starting with the more "negative" emotions first, the ones that are perceived as negative. So let's start with Anger. (I won't capitalise it for the whole post, just when I first introduce it). It's taken me a while to write this, I don't think it's a particularly easy subject to write because we're taught that it's "wrong" to be angry. But it's very important to discuss these things and express our emotions. I've decided to split it up into two parts, so for today I'll write about anger itself and accepting it, then the next post will be about releasing it.



A lot of stuff I've read says that suppressed anger can be bad for you. In itself it can be very destructive and if you hold it inside then it will hurt you. Depression is often called "anger turned inward". If you have depression (as I do) you may find it helpful to explore that more. I'll look more at sadness and depression separately later (grief might need its own post) but for now here are a few links on depression and anger:

http://www.transformationalwriting.co.uk/blog/depression-can-repressed-anger-cause-depression

http://www.emclear.com/Emotions/Emotions_depression.html

http://www.emclear.com/Emotions/Emotions_anger.html

Feeling Your Emotions Introduction

I'm starting a series of posts about emotions and how it's important to get in touch with them. So this is the introduction post. :)

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)


In a lot of spiritual books and articles on websites people mention how your emotions affect you. If you keep them bottled up then they can get stuck and cause you problems. For example suppressing your feelings can cause you to become depressed. Some people talk about the mind/body connection and say that how you feel can cause physical illness. I believe this. An example is Louise Hay's work. For more on that visit this post: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/09/my-current-favourite-spiritual-and.html