"How Do I Feel"
August 18, 2011
How do I feel?
How do I feel about my relationship, my career choices, how I look, my religious and political choices, my co-parenting choices? "How do I feel?" is a question we should ask ourselves more often. I know I'm beginning to.
We have so many opinions and so much input these days coming not only from our family, friends and coworkers, but from social media outlets and in my case, the public at large. Checking in with yourself and your emotions seems to be more important than ever. We get put down by others, lied about, downright emotionally tortured at times and sometimes you can't help but allow other's words, opinions and lies to sink in. I've learned that asking myself "How do I feel?" helps me tune out any negativity and tune into my gut, my heart and my intuition.
We aren't always going to be right, or make the right choices for ourselves and we don't have to. There's a lot of growth that comes from our mistakes, but we must be open to finding the lessons in our mistakes and taking those lessons with us as we move forward in life. If we are making our choices based on how we feel and the facts that we know, I think we are accomplishing a lot. I've noticed that as soon as I start listening to too many opinions, or listening to assumptions about my life from people on the outside and even some who know me well, I start letting negativity flow in, I become anxious and unsure or certain situations or even myself. I've been through a lot as a girl and a woman, I have cultivated strength and confidence far beyond anything I thought I was capable of. Letting outside noise tear any part of that down is taking a step backward. I take those steps every once in a while, but just the simple question of "How do I feel?" seems to be a tiny but important key to keeping me strong and confident in every part of my life. Try it when confusion, doubt or insecurity sets in and you might just find that your strength, confidence and answers lie right there within you.
