Feelings

Once there was a writer who was writing a book for children. He decided to ask his son for ideas.

“What would you like to tell other children?” he asked.

He thought the boy would say something like, “Everybody love everybody.” But instead the boy said, “Number one, ignore what your parents say about nutritious food. Number two, don’t go to school.”

The father laughed and thanked the boy for his ideas, even though they weren’t what he expected.

He loved his son for being able to feel and express his desires so strongly.

We all have a child within us, no matter how old we are.

When we honor that child, we also honor who we have become, and we free ourselves to express our truest feelings.

Throughout the day we experience many feelings.

Losing something makes us angry. Fighting with a friend makes us sad. Perhaps we’re lonely because no one is home. Getting an unexpected treat makes us happy.

Our feelings come and go just like the hours of our lives. Letting our feelings be whatever they are is good. They’ll go away in time.

We may not like all feelings.

Sadness or anger may be uncomfortable; but being human means we’ll have many different feelings each day.

If we’re quiet with them, they’ll help us grow and understand others better, and then they will suddenly be gone, replaced perhaps by a feeling we like more.

Sometimes when we feel sorry for ourselves we will sit alone in our bedroom. We may even feel so down in the dumps that we decide to stay there, indulging in self-pity, thinking about how the world is against us.

However, if we use our imagination to step outside our own point of view for a moment, we might think differently.

If we were deer in the forest, we would be thinking about keeping safe from the wolves, and where our next meal would be coming from.

The animals have no time to feel sorry for themselves, they are too busy doing what has to be done to survive, and each thing that happens presents a new survival problem to be solved.

When we feel blue, it helps to keep this in mind.

If we have the time to feel down, and can get physically comfortable while doing it, how bad can the problem really be?