Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/7DysV7aBU18/
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” ~Anais Nin
Do you remember a time when you wanted to crawl under the bed and stay forever?
Perhaps you’d been dealing with chronic pain and anxiety, had recently experienced divorce or the loss of a loved one, maybe even lost a job or two. I had experienced all of these things in just a few short years, and, judging by the loud knocking as I hid, was about to have my car repossessed, too.
I called my dad and told him I was a bit depressed. “Don’t be,” he counseled.
“Don’t be?” I repeated. “Oh, okay, I’m fine then.”
“Yep, like that.”
This way of dealing with the painful feelings, of ignoring and burying them as we force ourselves ever onward, is often expected of us.
It’s natural—scary things happen to us in life. We fall down unexpectedly, we fight, we fail, we are betrayed, abandoned, overwhelmed by loss. The subconscious starts enfolding us in protective layers when we need them so that we can move forward with life.
But what happens when we don’t let go once the need has passed?
Believe it or not, emotions, especially those that needed to be dealt with long ago, can becom…