Do you feel guilty when you feel sad?
or hurt?
or angry?
or frustrated?
I was talking with a friend the other day who was facing an injury. They were understandably upset about the limits this would place on their passions (if only for a time), but they were also certain that others had it worse.
I thought about this a lot. How many times do I have a wrestling within me between the emotions I feel and the guilt I have for feeling them?
How many times has the response to an emotion I’m experiencing been (a response either from my own lips or those of another) at least you aren’t _______ (fill-in-the-blank with anyone experiencing something worse)?
We can always find that example that leads us to question our right to feel what we feel.
But the truth is we are allowed to feel what we feel.
In fact, we are SUPPOSED to.
It’s part of being human.
We can feel hurt or sad or frustrated or angry, we can take time to let those emotions come and take the time to work through them as they are…
AND we can let the experience eventually help us grow in empathy for others who are going through things we couldn’t possibly understand.
It’s not either/or.
It’s both/and.
In fact, Ignatius encouraged paying attention and experiencing our emotions when he developed Ignatian Spirituality 500 years ago. He said our emotions help lead us forward in discernment and in our relationship with God.
So for anyone who is feeling an emotion today they don’t feel worthy of experiencing… this poem just may be for you.
SIMPLY HUMAN
Who am I
to feel
hurt…
After all,
I know
there are others
out there
much more deserving
of feeling hurt
then me.
After all,
what’s broken
for me
is nothing
even close
to the magnitude
of what’s broken
for them.
But still,
sometimes
I hurt.
Who am I
to feel
sad…
After all,
I know
there are others
out there
much more deserving
of feeling sad
then me.
After all,
what I grieve
is nothing
even close
to the magnitude
of the grief
they endure.
But still,
sometimes
I am sad.
Who am I
to feel these
BIG feelings?
Who am I
to want
TIME
to sit
with them
for a while?
I think
NO
I know
I am just
simply
human.
And that
is reason
enough.
