MY EMOTIONAL TEACHER

This writing is copyrighted and the exclusive work of Halli Bourne of True Self Wellness, LLC.

Emotion is often what we rely upon to carry us across the unfathomable voids in our intelligence.  ~Bryant H. McGill

Recently the spark for life flew right out of me.  As the second anniversary of my brother’s tragic death crept closer, dreaded grief welled up and my resistance to it covered my life with a sorry pallor.  I sought distraction from my pain and the reality of what could not be changed.  I turned toward my work hoping I could channel my emotion rather than feel it, and life grew paler still.  Ever watchful of my own mechanisms and ultimately intolerant of incessant drabness, I bowed down to the grief and let it teach me.

When difficult emotions strike, it can seem they will never end and resistance to them is natural; yet resistance can serve to prolong an emotion that simply wants to move.  The term emotion derives from the Latin word ēmovēre, which means “to move out.”  Once I allowed my grief to flow, I was able to see how essential grief is in response to what has been lost.  While I am still grieving, and assume I will be for some time yet, I observe space in place of resistance, and the glimmers of acceptance in place of denial.  Extraordinary living stems from the willingness to show up for what life presents, quite literally going beyond what is ordinary and allowing what has become stagnant to stir.  In the wake of healthy, expressed emotion, life’s spark is spontaneously rekindled.