Welcome to the new year ………the last year is over and we’re all supposed to be thinking about doing something differently, or learning something new, or even losing things.
The new year always brings about these kinds of intentions, and some of us may be doing a good job so far. Some of us may not care about a so called “new year”, and even more folks are not into the “new year, new me”.
We tend do this for all aspects of our lives - our homes, our jobs, and careers. But what about our internal state? Our internal needs. The emotional and mental pain we may have experienced in the past……..do we think our mental and emotional needs when we go about our intentions for the new year?
Our emotional state has quite a memory. Sometimes, that memory doesn’t let go of things we can actually handle. Sometimes, that emotional memory makes you feel that you “can’t deal” this emotion again.
Emotional pain is intense, and it can make us feel as if our whole body is being pulled apart. If you think back on the many many difficult emotions you had to endure, you might be quite surprised at how you survived that emotional pain.
But here’s the thing — you did survive!!!
You did come through that pain, you did wake up, you did keep going.
That’s the tricky part about our emotions; they make us feel that we won’t be able to come through it, so we keep that memory of that past hurt, and we let it influence us today. We hold on to that memory of what happened, and how we felt, and it keeps us from moving forward, and past those hurts.
It’s like we are keeping a scrapbook - with pictures, mementos, and other things that will keep the memory of that emotional pain. And this scrapbook is with you every where you go, with everyone you meet, and with everything you do. You pull it out, and go over the past emotional pain, because you are trying to keep yourself from experiencing it again. This “scrapbook” is heavy, it’s big, and it’s awkward to keep carrying with you.
And here you are, carrying it into a new year.
Maybe it’s time to put away this scrapbook of past emotional hurts. Maybe it’s time for you to start a different type of scrapbook, one that helps you to remember the things that made you feel good, supported, and valued. Maybe this scrapbook doesn’t have to remind you anymore; maybe it’s time to move on to a new book, for this new year.