Befriending Our Dark Emotions

Many of us can struggle when feeling grief, fear, or despair. But what if we were to befriend those emotions when they come upon us?

I invite you to consider the thoughts shared by Miriam Greenspan in the article Through A Glass Darkly. The author uses a term -- emotional alchemy -- to describe the journey through our dark emotions, and I find it beautiful.

When asked if "negative" emotions can make us sick, Greenspan replied:

Yes, I do, when they are unattended to. When we don’t know how to handle their intense energies, they can become stuck. Research shows that depression and anxiety have a connection to heart disease, immune disorders, cancer, and other ailments. This doesn’t mean that emotions cause cancer. Thinking so makes it easier to ignore research on how environmental contaminants, for instance, are linked to cancer. But stuck emotions do put stress on the body. That’s one reason why mindfulness and the metabolism of emotions are so important. If we don’t digest the emotion, it just sits in our bodies and contributes to ill health. 

And remember that giving attention to these dark emotions and processing them can be gently, subtly assisted by our friends the flowers in the form of flower essences.