ANSWER: At the heart of this paradigm shift is spiritual adulthood and freedom. There are four passkeys to crossing the spiritual adulthood threshold: personal authenticity, self-examination, separating belief from truth, and integration. E-motions are the centerpiece of these two passkeys. However, many of us are afraid, ashamed and anxious about the exploration, acknowledgment and expression of certain e-motions.
Most of us can at least fathom that everything is made up of energy. Well, e-motions are energy in motion. More than at any other time in our lives, it is important to pay attention to what needs to be expressed from deep within us. Holding onto our e-motions contributes to a pattern of denial, of banishment of parts of ourselves. The holding and the suppression tears us apart. To free ourselves from this prison, it is crucial that we move our e-motions. We do that by feeling our e-motions, by acknowledging their existence and by revealing and expressing ourselves.
There are a number of spiritual systems that recommend dividing emotions into positive and negative categories and recommend that we do our best to avoid negative emotions. I strongly recommend that we observe the tendency to want to “rise” above certain e-motions, to ignore, deny or suppress them because of a judgment that these e-motions are too heavy, dark, dense, frightening, dishonoring or reprehensible. When we habitually repress e-motions, we struggle and suffer. The more we struggle and suffer, the more we form patterns that become blueprints for attachment, addiction and projection.
I further recommend that we notice when we find ourselves in a circuitous loop – hoping, wondering, questioning, negotiating, doubting, fearing, hoping, wondering, questioning, negotiating, doubting, fearing…. Realize that we are trapped inside the eye of a hurricane, unable to move in one direction or the other. What got us there? Denial and suppression got us there; disconnection from our authentic self got us there. Also, if we repetitively experience depression, anxiety, fear or frustration, it usually signals that energy is either stuck or has formed a pattern.
The way out is clear – going deep within, self-examining, acknowledging the e-motions that are there, expressing our authentic self. Experiencing and expressing our e-motions is part of the process of moving the energy, and moving the energy frees us from entrapment, brings us clarity and empowers us to make decisions.
We are in microcosmic incarnational energy systems and, therefore, we cannot help but feel. It isn’t that those we admire – Yeshua, Buddha, Mother Mary, Quan Yin, etc. – only experienced and expressed emotions that vibrated at the level of peace, joy, harmony and unconditional love. They experienced the full spectrum of e-motions – including frustration, grief, fear, rage, compassion, tolerance, peace, joy, harmony and unconditional love. Their mastery occurred because they were authentic; they moved the energy. It is important that we become living crucibles of transformation. As we reveal and express our authentic selves, we convert the dross within us into gold and become the embodiment of genuine freedom, profound transformation and ecstatic fulfillment.
