I have been reading quite a bit lately. I will spare you the list and save it for another day but I stumbled upon an interesting concept yesterday in “The Secret Language of Your Body” by Inna Segal. She has 10 Principles for Healing at the outset and Principle 2 says: Feel your emotions instead of keeping them buried. That seemed reasonable and obvious enough until I read…”many people spend much of their time thinking rather than feeling because they find the experience of ‘feeling’ uncomfortable.”

Thinking rather than feeling… That phrase and distinction really caught my attention. How often do I mistake thinking for actually feeling?

She further states that your feelings hold the key to your well-being.

Now, we’re onto something. She suggests that we shut down our feelings by distracting ourselves with TV, food, reading a book, alcohol, listening to music, also known as many of my favorite things. Think this is a problem?

I have heard Brené Brown say before that we numb out with all these things but I never have thought about us mistaking thinking for feeling. Now, let’s be straight, I am not one of the great minds of our time but I am a hardcore thinker. In fact, it could easily be said I am an over-thinker. Does that mean I may also be an under-feeler? I made that word up and it sounds kind of wrong but all the same, do I think instead of feel?

Not to ruin the ending for you but we are not going to come to resolution by the end of this blog. Instead this is one of those things that I am going to be noodling on for some time to come but I thought maybe it would be good to have some company.

How often when someone asks you how you feel about something do you start your response with, “I think…?”

I have to tell you, upon reflection, I do quite a bit. Seems like a sure sign I am thinking more than feeling.  And if feeling our emotions is a key to our well-being then we all better start emoting a bit more.

For those of you in Ohio, when the white death/snow arrives today and you are snowed in by that whopping 2 inches of snow and you’ve stocked up on all your bread and milk, you are going to be a little bored. And this, my friends, is something to occupy your mind instead of watching The Weather Channel and team coverage of the snow on local news.

This lesson hasn’t fully formed but it’s shaping up to be a real humdinger. Keep me posted on what you discover as well.