Feelings Are Just Visitors, Let Them Come And Go.

Feelings are just visitors, let them come and go.

This statement is such an excellent reminder that our feelings and emotions are transitory and they will eventually pass.  So often, when we are experiencing emotions that we have labeled as bad or negative, (such as fear, sadness, anger, etc.), it is easy to want to either run away from them or numb them with some form of maladaptive coping.  I know that for me, I often turn to my eating disorder for a "solution" when experiencing a feeling that I don't like and want to avoid.  My eating disorder tells me that it can help me escape these feelings and that it will make me feel better.  What I have learned on this path of recovery, however, is that to rid ourselves of our eating disorders, we need to learn to accept and withstand the vast spectrum of feelings we are inevitably going to experience. We will have to learn to move through these different phases of emotions by accepting them, sitting with them, and allowing them to pass without turning to our eating disorders.  

This is a difficult task for sure, but that is why I love this affirmation.  It reminds us that even though we may feel pain or discomfort with feelings that are currently arising in the moment, and we may feel the urge to quell them with eating disorder behaviors, we don't have to because the feelings will pass on their own if we let them.  Recently, I had an afternoon where I was experiencing  a lot of discomfort because I was feeling pent up and anxious and was having negative thoughts about myself - mentally beating myself up for being annoying and high maintenance.  I started to experience strong urges  to go out and exercise.  Instead, I went and sat with a blanket wrapped around me and cried.  It was not a comfortable experience by any means, but after giving myself the time to cry and comfort myself with the soft blanket, the feelings of anxiety and self-hatred passed; I actually felt both a sense of relief and pride - I had not succumbed to any of the self-destructive behaviors that my eating disorder told me would make my feelings go away, and they had passed anyway!

 Ultimately, in order to recover we must learn to accept and move through our feelings instead of trying to control them.  Once we learn that all feelings will ultimately pass, we discover we no longer need to rely on our eating disorders to cope; rather, we learn to experience and learn from all our emotions and become more adept at taking care of ourselves spiritually and emotionally when we experience uncomfortable feelings.

So let us learn to embrace all the feelings we are going to feel as humans, and may we learn to trust that all feelings are transitory.  May we learn to accept them and move through them without turning to the influence of our eating disorders!

Wishing everyone patience and self-love when difficult feelings arise,

Taylor