The Hidden Gift in the Emotions We Avoid
How even frustration and fear can gently point us back to clarity.
The Feelings We’d Rather Not Feel
Let’s be honest. No one wakes up hoping to feel anxious, frustrated, overwhelmed, or sad. Most of us, quite reasonably, try to get away from those states as quickly as possible.
But what if… those uncomfortable emotions aren’t problems at all?
What if they’re useful—not because they tell us something about the world, but because they point us back toward something far more trustworthy than the world?
The Illusion We Rarely Question
For a long time, I believed what most people do—that my feelings were reactions to what was happening around me.
Someone says something rude: I feel hurt.
A plan falls through: I feel anxious.
The email doesn’t come: I feel frustrated.
Totally normal, right?
But I always wondered about something…
The same situations didn’t always trigger the same emotions.
Sometimes I’d laugh off a delay. Other times it felt like the sky was falling.
Same event. Different reaction.
So what was different?
Not the world.
Me.
More specifically, the way my mind was creating the world I was experiencing in that moment.
A Shift in Seeing
“What I feel isn’t coming from the world—it’s coming from how the world is being created in my mind.”
That realization changed everything.
I used to see emotions like fear, anger, or sadness as intruders—unwelcome visitors I needed to manage or escape. But now I see them more like friendly indicators.
Not alarms telling me there’s danger outside…
But gentle signals that I’m caught up in a temporary creation—mistaking the movie for the truth.
Not a Design Feature—But a Useful One
Now, some people in spiritual circles say emotions are “designed” to alert us to our thinking.
I’m not so sure.
I don’t believe they were built for that purpose.
I think they were designed to do exactly what they appear to do—motivate us, move us, energize us within the world of our creation.
And they do a great job of that.
But when we remember that the “world” we’re experiencing is being constructed in our own mind… those very same feelings become useful in a completely different way.
They’re not telling us what to do.
They’re telling us we’ve gotten a little too caught up in the show.
Letting the System Work
The beauty of this system?
Even the most uncomfortable feelings—anger, fear, frustration, sadness—aren’t signs that anything is wrong with you or with life. They’re simply letting you know what kind of thinking is passing through in that moment.
Not thoughts you’re choosing. Just the temporary weather of the mind.
And when we remember that, even briefly, something begins to shift.
We stop assuming our emotions are telling us about the world.
We stop trying to fix the feeling.
We stop gripping the wheel.
And in that space?
The system does what it naturally does: it rebalances. It clears. It resets.
“The ship is designed to right itself... if we just let go of the rudder.”
There’s no need to analyze the storm.
Just trust that clarity isn’t something you create—it’s what returns when you stop wrestling with the waves.
A New Way to Listen
The emotions we try to avoid may never feel pleasant—but they don’t need to.
They’re not enemies.
They’re not proof that anything’s gone wrong.
They’re reminders.
Indicators.
A nudge from within the dream.
The gift in the emotions we avoid?
They show us when we’ve forgotten who we really are.
And that—ironically—is exactly what helps us remember.
Reflection for the Week
What if you didn’t try to fix or escape your next wave of emotion?
What if you just let it be what it is…
and noticed what it might be showing you about the creation you’re living in?