Your Feelings are Valid

Nobody should be dismissive any anyone’s feelings — positive or negative.

Photo by Carol Magalhães on Unsplash

As a human being, you have feelings.

Feelings can be an incredible source of strength. The ability to feel in the way humans feel is a huge part of what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom.

Who you are, at your core, is an amalgam of intangibles both near the surface and deeply embedded in your psyche. Mindfulness — thoughts, feelings, and actions — are the surface. Habits, beliefs, long-held practices, and the like are the deeper roots. All make up the sum-total of YOU.

Society tends to look at the surface and ignore the roots. For example, the current unrest and protests. The symptom is poorly trained and unchecked police forces, combined with an unsympathetic president. The disease is systemic racism inherent in a system designed to keep the power in the hands of a very small few while disempowering everyone else.

Your thoughts and feelings are a part of what make up YOU. The actual, factual, inside-your-head-who-you-believe-you-are YOU. Just as much as your thoughts, ideas, and notions matter — so too do your feelings.

Feelings can get super-messy. They can be utterly lacking in rationality and can be disruptive. Feelings can sidetrack you from any path you are on.

One of the most frustrating things to recognize about feelings is how outside influences can impact upon them.

Things will happen both to and around you

Face it: shit happens. Car accidents occur, people leave you, jobs are lost, you stub your toe getting out of bed, burn yourself on your coffee, and endless other things you have no control over ensue. Before you know it, your feelings are happening and taking you off-course.

In the moment, when shit happens, feelings tend to be immediate and unreasonable. Anger, sadness, loss, hopelessness, fear, and pain can simply manifest instantly from nowhere.

What’s more, you can feel these feelings when things happen that do not directly impact you, per se. Spend any time watching or reading any news program today and odds are you’ll find a wide range of negative…