FEELINGS:

~

Years into recovery, we may still be battling with ourselves about this
issue, (feeling our feelings). Of all the prohibitions we've lived with,
this one is potentially the most damaging and the most long-lived.

Many of us needed to shut down the emotional part of ourselves to
survive certain situations. We shut down the part of us that feels anger,
sadness, fear, joy, and love. We may have turned off our sexual or
sensual feelings too. Many of us lived in systems with people who
refused to tolerate our emotions. We were shamed or reprimanded for
expressing feelings, usually by people who were taught to repress their
own.

But times have changed. It is okay now for us to acknowledge and
accept our emotions. We don't need to allow our emotions to control us;
neither do we need to rigidly repress our feelings. Our emotional center
is a valuable part of us. It's connected to our physical well-being, our
thinking, and our spirituality.

Our feelings are also connected to that great gift, instinct. They enable
us to give and receive love.

We are neither weak nor deficient for indulging in our feelings.