Self Improvement Through Integrating Emotions
Self improvement through integrating emotions is the second step in preparing to develop your Super Powers. (Read: Personal Growth Step One – Manage Your Mind) After learning how to manage your mind, the next “child” piece of yourself to master is your emotional system. Emotional energy is very different from mental energy and the emotional system requires a delicate touch. Most of us in the Western world are much more comfortable dealing with thoughts than emotions so we tend to turn emotional energy into thoughts, ignore it altogether, or Reiki it out of us. None of these techniques honors the very important role your emotional system plays in your survival and evolution. This is one of the biggest hindrances to people’s self improvement.
As with the mind, the emotional system is designed to keep you alive. When you get a twinge of emotional energy, it indicates that there’s something in the environment that’s not quite right. This can be in the external environment or something internal. At the point of inception, it merely wants attention. The emotional system uses emotional energy to communicate. When people master this part of the process, the emotional energy can be sensed and integrated without becoming full-fledged emotions (or feelings). When we get completely thrown off by emotions it’s typically because we didn’t listen to the subtle signs early on, so the emotional system starts yelling. Imagine a child saying, “Mommy, mommy, mommy.” And when he isn’t acknowledged, he gets louder and louder and louder.
And add insult to injury, most of us don’t just ignore our emotions, we listen to our minds’ stories about them. When we get a twinge of fear, our minds instantly conjure all kinds of reasons why we should be afraid. Since we’re more comfortable dealing with our minds, we tend to ignore the emotional energy sensation and go right into dialoging about the stories. As the middle child, this grates on the emotional system so it gets louder still, until the emotions are undeniable.
The good news is this cycle can be easily stopped. The two steps to mastering the emotional system are: detachment and integration. Because the emotional energy exists in the emotional system, it has to be dealt with there.
Here are some methods for integrating emotions:
- Feed the Demons
- The “Little Thing”
- Ball of Energy
Feed the Demons comes from Pema Chodron’s work. The idea is that when you get a sense of emotional energy, usually fear, envision that energy as a demon sitting across a table from you. Ask it what it wants. Then turn yourself into a serum containing all the demon wants and feed yourself to it. This practice turns an enemy into an ally. It’s a powerful process, but it requires some concentration. It’s perfect for meditations and internal journeying. For more information on this practice, read Tsultrim Allione’s book, Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict.
The “Little Thing” method is fantastic for any emotion relating to childhood or past lives. Similar to the Demon process, this one requires envisioning the emotional energy as a “little thing.” It can be an animal, a plant, or anything that invokes compassion. People have a lot of luck using child-versions of themselves. Imagine the “little thing” experiencing the emotion (again, typically a fear). After a moment, hug the “little thing.” Experience your compassion soothing the “little thing” and calming it completely. Hold the embrace until all tumultuousness is over. This process is a bit easier than the Demon process for some to use, but still requires a degree of focus.
The final method, Ball of Energy, is the quickest and least involved method. It’s perfect for using in conversations and in groups of people. Just like the prior two processes, detachment is key. Envision the emotional energy as a ball of energy outside yourself. It can be red, black, writhing, textured, whatever you feel relates to the emotion. See it outside of your body. Next envision your heart chakra glowing white from your heart center. Bring the ball of energy into your heart chakra. Envision the heart energy absorbing and transmuting the ball. Thus making the ball white, also, and enlarging the heart chakra. This method can be done repeatedly until the emotional energy is gone.
All three of these methods utilized the require two steps: detachment and integrating. You can create your own process as long as you incorporate those two key pieces. By incorporating this part of the process into your self improvement, you increase your chances of moving further into your own evolution.
