November 13: Day 136

STONE ELEVEN CONTINUED
 
Feel: I allow myself to feel. My emotions are part of my being. By allowing myself to feel, I heal and grow.

Instruction: Flow with the wind.

Imagine being a feather that is caught in the wind, blowing here and there with no control whatsoever. Like many things in life, we have categorized the wind. We have calm winds, gentle breezes, mild winds, storm winds, and gale-force winds. There are even times when the wind is still, and the feather is able to come back to earth to rest awhile. Our emotions are often just like that feather, and trying to control our emotions would be like trying to stop the wind. In some ways, we have learned to harness the wind and make it do our bidding. We use it to help us fly, we harness it to provide energy to run our homes, and we set our sails to it to help our ships race across the ocean. What we should never do is ignore the wind or pretend it isn’t there, just like we should never ignore our emotions and pretend they don’t exist. Like the wind, our emotions can be harnessed to help us, but some emotions, just like the wind, can be destructive and create storms, hurricanes, and tornados that reek destruction in their path.

When we learn to use the wind to our advantage, we can accomplish wonderful things, when we learn to use our emotions, to feel them and to respond to them appropriately, we will learn to do amazing things that can help to improve our lives and also make positive changes in the world. These improvements won’t happen if we ignore our feelings or pretend we feel one way when we are actually feeling something different. Emotions call us to action, but whether we act on that call is the difference between baby emotions and adult emotions. Feelings come and go and are as scattered and inconsistent as trying to plot the path of a feather being blown by the wind. Winds change directions without warning, and so do our emotions. One key to healing and spiritual growth is to acknowledge our emotions and then decide what is an appropriate way to respond to them.

As you consider the feather-in-the-wind analogy today, think about the ways our emotions change on a regular basis. One of the best ways to think about this is to remember the moments when the wind is still for a time and the feather has time to rest before returning to its unpredictable journey. Take some time to find a place that is sheltered from your unpredictable emotions so that you can rest. Close your eyes and relax every muscle in your body. Soon enough the winds of change will begin to blow your emotions around again, so relax, get your bearings, and get ready to experience life once more.