[2] I acknowledged I have emotions
The heart of the suggested steps to Peace & Acceptance is contained in these steps describing the experience of grieving widows and widowers.
Meetings focus on working through the steps, often in a repeating pattern as more learning is revealed to us on our journey. There is often no linear progression.
Acknowledging that there are emotions there, and recognsising that we often push those emotions down is a vital part of our journey.
Emotions.
Repressed.
Hidden.
We often keep our emotions buried because it can feel incredibly scary to recognize those emotions.
Step two is about recognition, it’s about acknowledgment of the fact that we have emotions (later on we’ll come to acceptance but we don’t need to do that yet).
We can acknowledge that we have emotions, that we have feelings, and that we can choose to connect with them.
Or, we may choose to keep them buried and repressed, but we know that if we do that then we can’t move past this step. So we repeat from step 1, we agree to turn up, with everything that we are, then we can move forwards.
Next time you have an emotion, whether it be happy or sad, pat yourself on the back and say “Well done, you’ve recognized you’ve had a feeling, nothing more, nothing less, it was just a feeling and another one will be along soon”.
Thinking prompts for this step
If you wish you may find it helpful to use these as prompts to guide your thinking when it’s your turn to share during any group meeting.
- Do you acknowledge that you have feelings?
- Are you able to accept the challenge of recognizing a feeling, and then congratulating yourself that you had a feeling?
- How will you recognize that you are having a feeling or emotion and begin working to prevent that from turning into a story which hasn’t happened yet, it’s just a feeling and it will pass?