Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/329694
112 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k j u l y / a u g u s t 2 0 1 4 ENERGY WORK Emotions are great. Under pressure, intense emotion can help us lift a car off a trapped victim. Emotions are like chemical equations of interaction that respond to stimulation with action. Problems occur when an emotion forms and remains fastened permanently. For example, imagine an attacker is about to strike you with a club. You might respond by merging fear with anger. The fear alerts you to danger, the anger spurs you into action, and you shout, "no!" Now, let's say the emotion remains bonded. How would your life partner, children, or boss feel if every time you got scared, say from a loud noise, the fear retriggered the anger and you started yelling? When a belief becomes permanently bonded with a feeling, the same potential disaster can happen. Imagine a child whose father constantly tells him he is stupid. When older, he might come to believe every male authority figure thinks he's stupid— and he responds by failing at school and work. Our job as healers is to unclasp stuck feelings and beliefs and "mature" the two elements. This process recognizes there are innate messages or information in feelings and beliefs that can be useful, but only if responded to appropriately—and only if the emotion can unlock and not continue to recycle. Accomplishing this goal involves understanding more about the true energy latent in feelings and beliefs. THE BEAUTIFUL MESSAGES OF OUR FEELINGS There are five main feelings, each of which conveys a message that grants a benefit. These are the major feeling constellations and their innate messages: 1. Anger sets boundaries to enable individuation. 2. Fear alerts us to danger to create safety. 3. Sadness indicates a perceived loss of love and encourages recognition of deep love. 4. Disgust reveals what is unhealthy and allows us to separate. 5. Happiness points out what we want and invites connection. If we respect and accept the first four feelings, they will eventually transform into some version of happiness. For instance, feeling the loss of a deceased father will eventually help us embrace our permanent bond, leading to deeper love. Getting angry with an abuser will help us establish appropriate boundaries; we will individuate. These positive payoffs are the ultimate reason we mature a feeling into joy. We are happier owning love that is permanent rather than transitory; we are happier as an individuated person than as a victim. The key to feeling (and remaining) happy is to recognize there are many types of happiness. Yes, there is bliss—but more frequently, happiness is experienced in more subtle ways, like gratitude, relief, contentment, satiation, and relaxation. When the five major feelings are repressed or adjoined with other feelings, they become distorted. Twisted feelings need to be unwound until they reduce into their true selves—one of the five feeling constellations. At this point, they can then be acknowledged and eventually followed toward a feeling of joy. For instance, repressed anger turns into resentment or bitterness. Anger contorted with sadness or fear turns into rage. Ignored fear is the basis for feelings of abandonment or terror. Intensified fear becomes abandonment, terror, or panic. Fear with disgust can turn into shame. We have to unwind these confusing feelings before we can embrace—and heal through—their messages. THE TRUTHS OF OUR BELIEFS There are six major beliefs that present us with a single choice: connection or separation. Connection aligns with the positive side of the coin and separation aligns with the negative. 1. I am worthy/unworthy. 2. I have value/no value. 3. I am powerful/powerless. 4. I am enough/not enough. 5. I deserve/don't deserve. 6. I am good/bad. How do you heal the darker sides of a belief? You mature a belief by assuming that even the darkest belief holds a truth. For instance, if someone believes they are unlovable, the truth may be that their parents weren't able to love. If someone thinks they are unworthy of financial equality, the truth