I think it is important for us to pay attention to our emotions, in general. Too many people have never learned to do this, because they've never been encouraged to do it. We have the notion that our emotions are not worthy of serious attention.
Naturally we have less difficulty with the so-called positive emotions. People don't mind feeling joy and happiness. The dark emotions are much harder. Fear, grief and despair are uncomfortable and are seen as signs of personal failure. In our culture, we call them "negative" and think of them as "bad". I prefer to call these emotions "dark", because I like the image of a rich, fertile, dark soil from which something unexpected can bloom. Also we keep them "in the dark" and tend not to speak about them. We privatize them and don't see the ways in which they are connected to the world. But the dark emotions are inevitable.They are part of the universal human experience and are certainly worthy of our attention. They bring us important information about ourselves and the world and can be vehicles of profound transformation. Miriam Greenspan, from The Sun, January 2008.
Have you experienced something unexpected blooming from your own losses or times of despair?
