emotional observation

[firecat]

I rarely mention in public how I'm feeling emotionally. (I'll talk about it with a few close friends, if they ask.) This goes not only for negative feelings but also positive ones.

I have a lot of reasons for not talking about negative feelings in public.

But here's what just percolated into my consciousness: I really only have one reason for not talking about positive ones. I believe that if I say "I'm feeling X" and then at some later point I'm not feeling X any more, people will judgementally think I'm foolish for having talked about feeling X in the first place, or possibly for having felt X at all.

I know where that belief came from. But you know, I think I don't really believe it any more.

Yay.

Comments

[brooksmoses]

Yay, indeed! That's a good thing not to believe.

[snippy]

Yay!

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

Excellent!

And I hope you're feeling fine.

[firecat]

I have a cold and I'm a bit frustrated with myself that I'm sitting at the computer instead of knitting. And otherwise I am feeling pretty good. Plus I have a yarn catalog.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

That's really great!

(I confess I'm sometimes embarrassed by the fact that the feelings (and thoughts and beliefs) that I post about often change by the time I read the post again, but hey, that appears to be the way I roll, so I'm just learning to live with it.)

[tedesson.livejournal.com]

One of the coolest things I learned from Buddhism was that feelings have no permanence other than the work you put into maintaining them. Quite freeing that.

[firecat]

Oddly enough, for many years I tended to feel like something of a failure for being unable to sustain the work of maintaining them.

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it was internal or external, but I used to think that if I was/seemed happy (or even laughed about something) when I was depressed, everyone would think I was lying about depression. I don't remember when I started doing it, but I would take pains to tell people that just 'cause I was depressed didn't mean I couldn't feel other things as well. I still don't know if I was really talking to them or myself.

I'm so glad for you. :)

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

Yay indeed!

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Yippee!