“Emotions are important messengers but terrible masters,” is a phrase we’ve used often, particularly when we engage in conversations that might be challenging for us because our emotions might be running high. In reality, this phrase can be applied to all centers of intelligence. It’s terrible to be mastered by our thoughts and bodies as well. While we shouldn’t allow our emotions to overtake us, it is necessary for us to lean into them, to try and understand what they’re telling us, especially if we are feelings repressed, because it leads us to wholeness.
Proverbs 3:5 gives us a short reminder to not solely rely on our own preferred intelligence center (and maybe even a challenge to lean into the heart center).
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
The places we naturally operate from aren’t bad, they aren’t wrong. We need Head and Body center folks. But no single center is going to lead us to shalom on its own. Feelings get a bad wrap a lot of the time, but they are just as important as thought and body experiences. Culturally, this might be the most difficult center to appreciate, so we may have to work harder to integrate.
This week, we hear from Autumn Schulze who engages the feeling center as a way to navigate memory and trauma - deeply connected to our spiritual formation - as life takes us down the path of emotional awareness in the world.