Feelings are like the piano of our being

Feelings are a physical experience. If we feel joy, gratitude, happiness or love, we experience the quality of these feelings as sensations inside. Our heart and chest expand, the body wants to laugh and perhaps cry at the same time. Butterflies dance in our stomach and warmth flows through us. The body releases happiness hormones.

If we are sad, lonely or overwhelmed, we have pressure on the chest, breathing flows less freely, the heart contracts, tears shake us and the body feels flabby and without energy. When anger or frustration is present, energy builds up in the body and wants to be discharged. The belly contracts and becomes hard. We are boiling inside.

When fear catches up with us, the heart starts to race, we notice a pressure on the chest. Breathing speeds up or stops. Helplessness spreads through us. At best, the body feels frozen, even though it has impulses to flee. Fear often makes us feel like we have no control over what is happening inside and around us. It paralyzes us and keeps us trapped. The body produces stress hormones.

Our brain and our body, especially our autonomic nervous system communicate with each other continuously. In technical language this is called "neuroception". Put simply, it means that the "sensors" of our body are always on reception in order to recognize possible dangers in the outside, in our body as well as in the encounter with others and to protect ourselves from them. This process happens below the cognitive parts of our brain and therefore outside our conscious control. It is the primitive parts of the brain that react here and activate ancient survival instincts. These belong to the limbic system, which also includes our more highly developed brain regions, to which the ability to feel, classify as well as process emotions is attributed. This is the origin of emotional intelligence.

Feelings can overwhelm us in their intensity, especially the difficult ones like fear, anger, pain, sadness, loneliness. We develop a tendency to rationalize and numb these with our minds. The more we disconnect from the difficult ones, the more we compress our experience of the positive feelings. The more consciously connected we are to ourselves and all our feelings, the less we compress them or are overwhelmed by them. And we feel more alive overall.

Our ability to feel is, for me personally, one of life's most precious gifts to us. Feelings are like the keyboard of our being with a unique melody.

How connected are you to your feelings?