#PracticalTakeout 2: Don't Suppress or Deny Emotions
Negative Emotions
Don’t suppress or deny any emotion, negative or positive . Validate the experience and be with the emotions (don't think them, "be" with them). Love them, as you recognize that they are an aspect of Hashem being experienced through you . Go deeper. Recognize that every negative emotion has a deep truth beneath it that is being suppressed, and that’s why it’s coming out as negative. Reveal the lights of tohu with the keilim by uncovering the truth beneath the surface, while maintaining your full dignity and behaving in a kedusha way.
Ie. Someone just said something hurtful to you. You’re feeling hurt, and your immediate instinct might be to defend yourself or lash out at them.
1. Validate that you are feeling hurt.
2. recognize that you are not “bad” for feeling hurt. In fact, this is Hashem Himself experiencing hurt through you.
3. Maintain your dignity by not getting defensive, not taking revenge, not trying to control, while maintaining healthy boundaries etc.
4. Dig deeper. Ask yourself, what is the truth beneath the surface that is being denied? Perhaps that you are worthy of being spoken to with compassion, respect, or maybe , of not being judged - because you are a piece of Hashem Himself, literally?
When you recognize what truth that has been denied is giving you pain, you can heal it by saying “I am worthy of being treated with compassion, because I am a piece of Hashem” etc. When you hit the right truth, you will feel uplifted. If you can’t figure it out, ask Hashem to give you the clarity and leave it alone. When the clarity will come, it will “click”, and then you can affirm your worthiness as above to heal it and let go of it.
Food for thought
From Gate of Reincarnations - Chapter Thirteen, Section One By Rabbi Yitzchak Luria as recorded by Rabbi Chaim Vital; translation from Sha'ar Hagilgulim by Yitzchok bar Chaim; commentary by Shabtai Teicher
"Sometimes, souls, as a result of a certain blemish in the lower levels..."
Take note! The original sin caused many souls to fall to bad places, and this causes them to experience many difficulties in their carnations. These are from the wondrous ways of G‑d, why different people start from different spiritual places. The main thing is not to indulge in feeling bad when encountering in oneself natural tendencies towards evil. A repairman doesn’t look at the broken washing machine as evil - just something that requires fixing. The same attitude must be exercised in regards to oneself.