Once more with feeling

Our emotions are a gift. When we are feeling happy, excited, or joyful we can easily accept this. When we are feeling grief, despair, or anger, accepting our feelings as a gift may be more challenging for us. Our feelings are a way to monitor what is happening around us. They also serve as a springboard for our thoughts surrounding whatever those circumstances might be. Whatever we feel is followed by our story of what accompanies the emotions. It may be at the conscious or subconscious level, but it is always there. When we feel happy, it may be based on an unexpected surprise from someone we are close to. Our story may be that this is proof of that person's love for us. When we feel disappointed, it may be based on our story that the person forgot our birthday when we were expecting to be specially acknowledged for that event. Those stories may or not be accurate. The unexpected present may be based on a guilty conscience or forgetting a birthday may be deliberate because there is an even bigger surprise awaiting us. Our feelings are opportunities to listen to our stories and to be open to what they are telling us. They are like the artist's palette from which we paint our lives. What are your feelings telling you today?