S3E40 How Feeling Your Emotions Can Help You Forgive

Friend,

We often think forgiveness means letting go of anger, sadness, resentment, or hurt.

But what if trying to get rid of those emotions is actually getting in the way of forgiveness?

In this episode, I explore the role that feeling and processing our emotions can play in forgiveness. Many of us learned early in life to suppress difficult emotions.  We can carry those habits into adulthood, sometimes without realizing that we're avoiding what we actually feel.

I share the many ways we can avoid our emotions, including distraction, staying busy, intellectualizing, minimizing, spiritualizing, and even repeatedly thinking about what happened without connecting with the emotions underneath it.

I also explore why feeling an emotion isn't the same as acting on it, and how emotions can give us important information about what we've experienced and what we may need.

Drawing from Emotion-Focused Therapy, the Psalms, and the example of Jesus weeping at Lazarus' tomb, I consider what it might look like to become more honest about our emotional lives, and to bring those emotions honestly to God.

You'll also learn a simple practice for beginning to process an emotion:

Notice → Locate → Stay → Get curious → Bring it to God

Forgiveness doesn't require us to pretend we're fine or rush past our pain. Sometimes, becoming more honest about what we're feeling is part of the way forward.

Reference(s):

Sue Johnson, Dr.  https://drsuejohnson.com/