The Swirl
The Art of Staying with Yourself Through Emotional Waves
I’m a highly sensitive person…and that goes for my emotions as well. For me, emotions come in waves, and instead of getting lost in them, I’ve had to learn to stand and be my center.
Emotions are like waves at a wave pool, sometimes they go over your head and engulf you…maybe even lift you off the ground…for a bit…and then you land and let the rest of the wave just wash over you.
For me…that’s a daily thing. That’s just life. If it’s an emotion like joy or beauty, I may let my feet go slowly back to the ground, but all in all…I always come back to my center.
A swirl is a mix of emotions (because we rarely feel just one), often contradictory and, dare I say, highly uncomfortable.
Oh, I don’t enjoy it one bit! lol
But fuck me, do I love what comes after it— clarity. Peace. Centerness. Compassion.
I used to want and try to control my emotions, push the ones I didn’t want to feel away, or ignore them and force myself to be happy or at least not angry or sad. But of course, it didn’t work.
It built anxiety within me. I would feel lost in the overwhelm and either have a panic attack or rush to smoke weed or distract myself.
Where does that need for control come from, though? What’s behind it?
I think…what’s behind it is simply wanting to feel safe.
Emotions are not the enemy. They don’t need to be ignored, controlled, or compartmentalized.
When we reach a place where we feel safe within ourselves…when we realize we can feel the overwhlem of something and land on our feet when it’s over…we embody peace.
I no longer try to control my emotions. I’m safe always within myself, so I can let them wash over me, be annoyed and sad and angry and grateful all at once…fully in the swirl of them all…and at my core still be at peace.
I think that’s another misconception— that peace is basically living like some Zen monk who never has emotional waves.
What fucking bullshit!!
One…that does not sound human. We have emotions and are meant to feel them.
Two…peace is not dependent on anything other than what you embody at your center.
Let’s expand on that one.
I think this is about self-understanding, self-reliance, self-love, and feeling safe within yourself.
As with all things… it will feel risky at first… scary to stay with a swirl, the overwhelm, the fullness of what you’re feeling. This is where self-trust comes in. You know you will land back in yourself, and that this overwhelm is temporary.
The swirl doesn’t control you; it is simply the weather you're in.
Astronaut of Life is a place for explorers of life, both inward and outward. Exploring who we are and how to live life embodied in love, security, and wisdom.
To me, an astronaut is more than just someone who goes into space. It is a symbol for exploration of the unknown. There is bravery there, risk, and wonder.
Is this not how we should view life??
This is my approach to life. As an avid traveler, both on Earth and in the other dimensions, I find life full of wonder.
Go inward to explore.
May I add a layer to that? I think the need to control is reaction to whatever you think the swirl means. It is dependent on the paradigm you approach the swirl with. (It's actually always the paradigm that's defining the way you experience reality. That's where all my insights are leading me.) So when you experience an emotion as threatening - as something that can really hurt you - you will automatically try to control it. It's perfectly logical. An emotion that's out there to kill you, has to be stopped! 😉 If you see the emotion as just another wave, a swirl, that will pass on its own, then you don't have to do anything about it.
So the question is, from which paradigm do you approach an emotion from?
From the 'emotions are real things that are here to kill you' or the 'just another swirl passing through'? This will determine your reaction to it.
Peace is having the right paradigm. It's that simple.
The swirl doesn't control you. It's simply the weather you're in - absolutely true!!!! I'm experiencing a duality of sorts nowadays ...where when I let go of control, I automatically become the observer and the person inside the swirl. It feels so beautiful ❤️!