Does this ever happen to you? You find yourself feeling uncomfortable, sad or out-of-sync with what you believe you should be feeling. So you judge the feeling, ignore it or shoo it away in an attempt to feel better.

Why does that not work for long? Because We. Are. Not. Supposed. To. Ignore. Our. Feelings.

I am not saying that we should not work to cultivate a core state of well-being, or alegria. From those states you are in a better position to handle the other emotions which threaten your happiness.

But why do we judge – and condemn – feelings that make us feel uncomfortable? Our feelings play an important role in our lives. Their job is to tell us how we feel!

When we judge our feelings we silence the voice of truth. It’s akin to telling a crying child to stop crying without exploring the reason for the tears. What happens, then, to the feelings the tears were aching to express?

We would never tell someone to ignore their intuition, their gut feeling, their inner warning system, but when we ignore our feelings we do just that. We are feeling what we are feeling for a reason. Why does it have to be wrong?

Following our feelings and coming to understand them is what I wrote about in The Happy Place. Finally paying attention to feelings I had long ignored, and discovering how to listen to their message, was what led to the writing of this book.

How do you handle uncomfortable or out-of-sync feelings? Have you ever caught yourself judging your feelings and putting them aside? Do you run from your feelings?

Photo credit: Loren Kerns

I’m happy to announce that The Happy Place is now available in print as well as in Kindle format. You can see it in print in the Create Space store and, both in print and in kindle format, in the Amazon store.