Intense dreams
What would it mean to dream of a volcanic eruption, a bomb exploding, or a tsunami that sweeps away everything in its path?
Could it be that I am holding back emotions within myself that can no longer be contained?
Could these symbols materialize in concrete life... And what can be done to prevent this from happening?
The manifestation of emotions
The characteristic of emotions is their power, both positive and negative. We sometimes have the impression that they could sweep away everything in their path like an impetuous torrent, without anyone being able to stop them. They could make us lose control of ourselves, like a tsunami, with all the consequences that entails. For example, anger can turn into violence; joy, spontaneity can lead us to sometimes be too exuberant.
We could therefore be afraid of the magnitude of our emotions because we know their power only too well and as a result, we will also be afraid of those of others. We can take as an example the reactions of certain people in a tense social context, such as in a demonstration which degenerates, where even a person without history could engage in violent behavior which they have never displayed before. It’s the “I don’t know what came over me… I picked up a stone and I threw it at a window to break it…” It’s a very well-known phenomenon that the influence of a group, of a crowd, of the collective, can have on an individual and lead him down a path where he would perhaps not have gone on his own.
So why is it sometimes difficult to express your emotions?
This is why some people will systematically avoid any type of gathering, places where there will be a lot of people because they fear the powerful emotional reactions of crowds and they will avoid confronting them, also for fear of their own reactions. . We have already seen too much, for example in football stadiums, of violence between supporters which creates uncontrolled crowd movements causing numerous victims. Emotion generates an impulse, that is to say taking action when memories emerge, or when needs become uncontrollable.
When we act irrationally, on a “spur of heart” or “on a whim”, we connect to all the memories where we experienced a situation either that we hated, repressed, or where the we were afraid, afraid for ourselves or for the other... In short, a situation where we felt potentially in danger... and the emotions will confuse our reason, our common sense. We often use expressions like “Let’s not lose our temper” or “Let’s keep a cool head” to symbolize the right attitude to adopt so as not to be trapped by emotional intensity.
Why shouldn't you repress your emotions?
Bottling up emotions may work for a while, but the deep nature of emotions is to be expressed. So one day or another, the accumulated pressure causes the dam (or other system put in place to hold back emotions) to give way, and there we will experience consequences in our body, our mind, because this will be their the only way out... We could experience depression, have physiological or psychological manifestations, develop illnesses, etc... Hence the importance of learning to manage our emotions well and not create emotional restraints.
To be able to act accordingly, it is important to clearly discern how you feel. To do this you need to know how to listen to your emotions without repressing them. Thus, we will be able to reconnect deeply with ourselves and regain our ability to interact intelligently, to empathize with others, far from this cold indifference which can sometimes develop when emotions have been repressed for a long time, where we gradually fade away instead of feeling alive; because emotions are quite simply life, and to repress emotions is to deny it.
Recognizing one's emotions means demonstrating emotional intelligence, that is to say being able, on the one hand, to “express, understand and manage one's own emotions and on the other hand, to perceive and to interpret those of the other”. Emotional intelligence is an essential component of mental health. It plays a very important role in self-knowledge and the quality of relationships with others.
The power of emotions
We are lucky to be able to feel, express, live our emotions. They allow us to adapt, to preserve ourselves, to make choices. They influence our behavior. If we knew how to naturally welcome our emotions and recognize those of others, we would have much fewer problems in our relationships and in society in general.
Our emotional energies are an unlimited source of power, they are the engine of our evolution. Knowing how to manage them means being able to use their tremendous potential to get us moving, motivated, inspired, created... in short, to evolve.
