Monday Motivation: 3.4.24

The 4 Pillars of Integrity are:

(1) Radical Responsibility
(2) Feeling our Feelings
(3) Candor
(4) Impeccable Agreements

Among these, the most challenging for me to embrace is feeling my feelings.

Before Ryan Holiday, I was influenced by Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and The Wire, which taught me that emotions should never precede reason. Such a stance could get you killed even.

However, as I've grown older (as have they), I've come to understand that emotions are fundamental to my existence. A life devoid of emotions isn't truly living; it's a prison where you're shackled in your own mind.

There's always a place for reason, just as there's always a place for emotion. Both hold immense power.

This concept became exceedingly clear to me yesterday with my toddler. I was making a simple journey downstairs to fetch something for her, leaving her upstairs with her mom. For her, the thought of me making the trip without her was unbearable. Her emotions overflowed in a tumult of shrill cries, tears, and (the cutest) foot stomps.

Now that is feeling your feelings.

I'm not advocating that we all express our emotions to such an extent (that sounds like jail or a civil lawsuit waiting to happen), but I do believe it's beneficial to allow ourselves to fully experience our emotions for a little longer than we have in the past. Doing so provides insights we might not have otherwise gained and fosters a new strength within us to simply understand.

From Conscious Leadership

Most of us have been socialized out of feeling our feelings. It takes a massive amount of energy to repress and suppress our feelings, energy that could be more generatively spent in all sorts of ways. Not only does feeling our feelings result in reclaiming this leaked energy, but it often reveals the wisdom contained within the emotion, empowering us to respond from presence instead of threat.

Feel your feelings today.

✌🏽. ❤️. 📈. 🤲🏾.