Feelings: Is there such thing as good or bad?

Since I was young I was taught to stay positive, to not look into the bad feelings that would sometimes visit and just chase the good ones. But what is bad? Is sadness bad? I always thought so. But it’s a feeling that visits all of us at one point or another in our life and is almost inevitable. Whether I wanted to be the positive, go lucky type of person, I still felt sad or even angry sometimes. But did these feelings make me a bad person?

Understanding how we feel and why is essential to our growth so why do we suppress these “bad” feelings? I think it’s safe to say that we all want to be happy, yet we chase happiness like something that does not really belong to us and perhaps we do the same with all our feelings. Emotions are the signals our soul sends us so that we can address a part of ourselves that needs attention. They are meant to flow through and leave a message to help develope our self-awareness and evolve our consciousness. Allowing ourselves to be human and experience the highs and the lows helps us understand ourselves better and consequently our surroundings.

And even in knowing this, it does not mean that I don’t get sad or experience “negative” emotions. Truly, they suck! But what I try and ask myself now is two very important questions:

Why am I feeling this way?

What can I learn from this?

I have found that by asking these simple questions I can get a sense and a grip of what really is going on. Yes, I’m guilty of wallowing in a state of being for more than I should but I have also realized that the longer I avoid it the more uncomfortable it’s going to feel.

So if it’s that easy, why does life feel so hard sometimes? Well, life is tough at times, just as it is beautiful but in every state of being we need to remind ourselves that there is a message that we can learn from.

Take for example a common cold, they definitely don't feel good. But it does not make you a bad person and it doesn’t mean your body does not work anymore. In contrary, it’s our body’s way of telling us that our immune system is trying to fight an infection. And after our immune system does its job our body is left with the power and knowledge on how to fight it more effectively next time it shows up.

Same goes for our emotions, so when you’re feeling a bit “negative” don’t ignore it, tune in and see what more you can learn about yourself. Let it come in and do its job, rebuild yourself stronger and find the growth that has been looking for you. There is no such thing as “bad or negative” emotions. Sh!t gets hard sometimes but like someone once told me “change is inevitable but suffering is an option” it just all depends on perspective.