God’s Emotional Design

God designed us, specifically women, to experience emotions…all the emotions. Emotions are not good or bad, positive or negative, right or wrong. You are supposed to have emotions. You have them for some very powerful reasons. Here are 4.

Information

If you pay attention to your emotions they give you important information. Information about your thoughts, your choices, information about how others are using their agency, and information about emotional injury,

Try this exercise. For 30 seconds think over and over “I’m not good enough.” Notice what you experience in your body. Now for the next 30 seconds think “I’m a divine daughter” over and over. Was there a difference in what you experienced? How you felt?

The only thing that changed was your thought. If you pay attention to your emotions you will notice the impact that your thoughts have on how you feel. This is empowering. It gives you the opportunity to hold or let go of thoughts that create the experience you want to have more often.

Action

When was the last time you experience the felling of guilt? What did you do in response to that feeling? If you have made a mistake, done something out of alinement with you values, you will feel guilt. And guilt can move you to action. It can move you to apologize or make amends in another way.

Anger is another emotion that leads to action. Anger can tell you that you are unsafe. Anger can tell you that you need to set a boundary. Be careful not to dismiss your experience of anger. God designed you with the ability to experience this emotion. Get curious about why.

What other emotions move you to action?

Enrichment

God has given you an amazing capacity to experience emotions. From joy to grief. And there can be moments where you experience both at the same time! Think about this emotional variety like a menu at a restaurant. There will be foods you love and foods you don’t like. Part of the enjoyment of the foods you love is the contrast with the food you don’t.

Even when you experience emotional pain, or other emotions that are uncomfortable for you, this creates contrast. Emotions add color and flavor to our human experience.

Connection

Consider some of your most powerful experiences…your wedding day, the birth of your children, a favorite vacation, the death of someone you love. Now imagine these experiences with no emotions. Crazy right! Without emotions these powerful experiences would have no meaning and certainly would not deepen your connection with others.

Emotions can connect you, to yourself, to others, and to God.

God designed you on purpose. To have emotions. All of them. Get curious about the powerful reasons you have emotions and practice embracing those emotions, both the comfortable and uncomfortable.