In my healing practice, it is not unusual to meet people who have a desire to address their emotional responses to situations, events, circumstances and the like.

By this I mean people from all walks of life, including accomplished, successful, healthy adults who suddenly find themselves responding emotionally to a situation in a way that appears to belie their chronological age and/or life experience.

What is it that causes such an emotional outburst or response, even when logically we understand and can rationalize the situation at hand?

In short, PAIN!

So what is this pain, where does it come from and why does it surface in a particular situation?

Although there is no one simple solution or short answer, that doesn’t mean answers can’t be found.

Pain can be multi-faceted and come from anywhere. Pain is created in response to energy in a person’s physical and/or spiritual space which is foreign, negative and invasive.

Pain resulting from physical injury is easily identified and, as a result, can be treated immediately.

Spiritual, emotional or mental pain, however, is not always as easily recognized or validated and can, therefore, remain untreated for long periods of time, finding its way into the depths of one’s personal space only to emerge at a later date in the form of an emotional response triggered by a similar experience many years, or even lifetimes later.

So, getting back to growing your emotional self……..

What happens when you experience judgment, invalidation or punishment in the form of a mental image or picture because of an emotion you expressed as a child, teenager or young adult?

The energy or picture that is thrown at you – “Stop crying, you’re acting like a baby, you need to grow up, you’re making a mountain out of a molehill, you’re embarrassing me” representing just a few examples – gets stuck in your space, effectively stunting your emotional growth at that time and not allowing you to validate the emotion you were experiencing or wanting to express.

Now imagine how many times you may have experienced such judgments during the course of your lifetime and how much pain is still stuck in your emotional space…..

Those unexpressed or invalidated emotions and feelings can build up over time until an event or experience unexpectedly triggers the memory of that pain and BOOM!

It is at this time of emotional outburst that once again you are in danger of being judged for your age, status, maturiy level, etc., compounding the original invalidation and adding to the inability to grow your emotional self.

Although this may seem to be a vicious cycle that is impossible to overcome or change, this is simply not true. With the assistance of meditation, self-healing and a determination to grow your emotional self, that pain can be released, de-energized and the freedom to be yourself can be achieved.

Releasing the energy of emotional pain from those past experiences allows you to regain your spiritual energy and bring that part of yourself forward into present time!

The more of your own energy you are able to access in present time, the more ability you have to grow and change…..

Regardless of your age, you can continue to grow your emotional self!

photos courtesy of flickr & stock.xchng.