Eye of the Storm

Can you reach the eye of your own emotional storm? So often our torments and our struggles come from within. Even if it feels external, like a person or a situation, the power more often than not lies with you—not just how your respond to others, but how you respond within yourself. You decide if you will master your own volcanic emotions; you decide if something is worthy of your energy; you decide to let go or not; you decide to dig deep into your own discomfort; you decide to gain a higher perspective—and when you do, that is truly coming into the eye of your own storm.

So often we don’t fear others, we fear our response to others, we fear our own selves—our internal rage or potential embarrassment. What if we lose control? What if we are humiliated? We have these pre-wired fears that we can’t explain, and sometimes they feel like they overcome us, paralyze us, block us in some way.

The only solution is that we must get to know them well, cozy up to them, examine them, be kind to them in order to master them. The true work always entails returning to ourselves. We fear that if we lose control by exposing the mad mess within, it will yield a disaster, so we either hide our true feelings or we ultimately explode. How can we find the middle ground? The only way is by going within; to start with ourselves and just recognize the feeling, address it—name the feeling. Scared, helpless, out of control angry? Can you name it? Can you approach it slowly, kindly, and with self-compassion?

The key to open the door to ourselves is self-exploration combined with self-compassion. The issue is within ourselves, and we have to be willing to brave the storm in order to get there.

The companion step, after we name our emotion, is to then ask why do I feel this way, which takes us down another path of self-discovery that opens more doors; how does this emotion relate to my childhood? Where do I feel this emotion within my body? Sometimes the answer comes immediately and other times it takes more excavating. Let's brave the storm, because once we're at the center of the issue, we can rest in the safety of the eye.

Soul-Prompt: How can I get to the heart of what I’m feeling by naming the fear behind the emotion? Why do I feel this way? How can I center myself when I feel in the storm of my emotions?