Dear Listeners,
Recently, I’ve noticed people asking the question regarding their right to feel feelings (thinking they do not have the right). While I’ve been contemplating this, in parallel, a swarm of discussions have populated the airspace on chatGPT and its AI analogues… my uneducated guess is that this technology will grow and more people will entertain it. A question that caught my attention in the AI discussion included: What does it mean to be human? What defines being human? I think all these questions are related.
I’m going to suggest a defining characteristic of being human (there are many, I’d like to focus on one here) is that humans experience and express emotions. I am referring to the complex and unique neuro-endocrine-physiologic-energetic expression and experience of emotions seen in us. I am not referring to something out of the movie “Her”, in which AI mimics human traits convincingly. Though this now appears possible to chatGPT if it develops with unbridled permutations, this may eventually impact how we define relationships. Making this distinction is important to me because some time down the line it may become tempting to give this up. Give what up? Feeling feelings, being human. Yep, I said it.
The emotional aspect of our human design can be glorious and/or distressing depending on the situation. It can also become quite painful if we become enslaved by it (for example, in addiction). For those whose feelings are going through a significant phase (having strong feelings) it becomes quite a dilemma to consider there is not a right to feel them. To deny something happening in the present moment, which is difficult to pretend otherwise, is debating if it’s okay to be oneself. In a way it is also asking if its okay to be human.
Often enough (making a generalization here), a person may think they do not have a right to a feeling in the context of a internal conflict, be it driven by guilt, shame, anger or another reason (such as self doubt, feeling less than, etc)…. My suggestion is that feelings are part of us, our lived experience, being human. They may not make sense or can be a surprise/unexpected… no matter what, one has the right to experience them.
A path towards turning this around can be to (note, these are not simple steps but takes practice, persistence, some guidance can help): 1) acknowledge the honest experience, 2) glean why/how this relationship to self formed… and follow that with 3) a mind-quieting practice (to slow internal reactions, refine clarity), patient self-observation and with a little courage try to do life differently. Someone as your neutral wise counsel- will help assist your process towards whole-ness.
Just remember, there are many methods to reduce growing pains when breaking patterns (being creative, meaningful actions, prayer, meditation, mantra, etc to name a few). Attached is a meditation to help quiet the mind and expand your awareness.
Please share this post to anyone who can use a lift.
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