Lisa's Blog
Emotions. Good or Bad?
Lisa Pratt 09 November 2010
My experience has been in being taught that there are right or wrong, good or bad emotions. From meeting people either as clients, friends or strangers, it seems that many of us are programmed to think that we are good only if we experience certain 'good' emotions (such as: happy, peaceful, calm or love no matter what the circumstance we're given) and that we are bad if we experience certain 'bad' emotions (such as: hate, jealousy, anger or fear). It seems as though we've been programmed to believe that we are not enlightened or deserving people if we ever experience hate, jealousy, anger or fear. We fight these 'bad' emotions because we want to be 'good'.
My journey has become about living in the reality of life and no longer fighting against what is truly happening and experiencing what I'm feeling at the moment. I've discovered that the more I beat myself up or try to deny what I'm feeling (because I'm 'bad'), the more that it just compiles, lingers and grows. If I feel how I'm feeling then I continue to move forward regardless of how I'm feeling in that moment. All emotions can and will pass if we allow them to flow as nature intended. If I don't like how I'm feeling then I can pay attention to it and transform it.
It seems as though we've set up for ourselves a goal that is unobtainable. We want to be enlightened people but maybe we're already there and just don't realize it yet or simply won't embrace it. Maybe we're actually preventing that from happening because we're fighting against nature (or God or the Universe). I don't believe that I was given certain emotions as a 'trick' or as a test of whether I'm a deserving person or not. Each emotion is valid to me and is telling me something about myself - that's why I have emotions.
Nature does not know right or wrong. Nature only know balance and imbalance. -- Walternate, Fringe.
Lisa Pratt, November 9, 2010
Taking Action
Lisa Pratt 27 July 2010
Bravery is not the absence of fear. It is having the fear and taking action for my own self in whatever way I choose to in that moment.
Every circumstance calls for a different action. Sometimes bravery comes in doing nothing at all. Sometimes bravery comes in taking action for my own self. I learn how to do what's best for my own self in every separate circumstance by making a shift to practicing the art of stopping and listening to my body and what it's telling me. My body will always let me know my true desire or what's best for me in that moment (logic and emotion). Sometimes I'll stop and listen. Sometimes I won't (until later on). It's a process of learning and there is perfection in the learning process.
Sometimes I may get caught up in the thinking that "perfection" means not making a "mistake". Making a mistake is part of the process and it is perfection. Perfection comes in realizing I have done something that I now wish I had done differently and I take whatever action I need to take in order to bring healing to the situation. If I stop and listen, sometimes my gut is telling me that there's nothing for me to do, sometimes it's telling me that it's best to wait in taking action so that other pieces can fall into place (ex. maybe the other person isn't open to hearing what I have to say in this moment but maybe at a later time they will be) or maybe my gut is telling me that it's time to take action now.
We can take action in many ways: communicating physically through spoken word, communicating through written word in a letter, communicating through energy or communicating through our example.
Acting Bravely
Lisa Pratt 27 July 2010
Every circumstance calls for a different action. Sometimes bravery comes in doing nothing at all. Sometimes bravery comes in taking action for yourself. We learn how to do what's best for ourselves in every separate circumstance by starting to practice the art of stopping and listening to our body and what it's telling us. Our body will always let us know our true desire. Sometimes we'll stop and listen. Sometimes we won't (until later on). That's the process and you're doing it perfectly. What are you saying to yourself?
Shame and Guilt
Lisa Pratt 21 July 2010
Shame is based on an outer experience while guilt is based on an inner experience. Shame often times will cause us to hide away while guilt often times will cause us to take action.
