If you’ve watched the movie Inside Out, one thing is made clear, all of our emotions are important to us. 

In the movie Joy was dismissing Sadness, as she was fearful of what any drop of sadness inside of Riley could do to her being. What Joy later came to understand was how we must learn to be open to all of our emotions, none excluded, in order to grow as individuals. 

Unfortunately, many of us learned at an early age to identify our Self as the emotion we are experiencing. We do this automatically when we say things such as, “I’m sad.” We don’t recognize just how powerful this way of identifying ourself can leave us. It’s as if everything around us is then tainted when we view the world from this frame of reference. 

Learning to identify which emotions we are experiencing is a wonderful skill. Once we accept which feelings are present, they loose power over us. We can make the shift from saying, “I AM sad” to “sadness is present here.” 

It may seem subtle but when we gain awareness of our Self, it becomes more clear that we are not our emotions. We are in fact something greater. 

Jennifer Picinic, PhD

Certified Spiritual Counselor