The Freedom of Feeling It All

• By candidasullivan
• April 12, 2025
• No Comments

Things are not always what they seem. On the outside, someone may appear like everything is fine. People often smile, laugh, and act like they are fine when the turmoil is raging inside them because they want to be fine. We all want to be loved, accepted, and happy.

The problem is that we often look for happiness outside of ourselves. We search for it in things, people, and circumstances. This type of happiness is fleeting and doesn’t reach our souls. It is a brief interlude of what we desire. So, we notice what gave us that brief moment of happiness and try to reproduce it continuously. We want to live in a constant state of happiness. Then, when we can’t achieve this in the long term, we feel as if something is wrong with us.

Being happy all the time is just not possible. Honestly, I don’t want to be happy all the time. Sometimes, I need to cry, feel compassion for others who are struggling, and become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Learning how to be in the present moment with my emotions has helped me so much. Allowing myself to feel the heartache and the sadness without trying to push them away has been so freeing for me.

The worst thing that can happen is we might feel an emotion we don’t want to feel. But the emotion is there for a reason. Instead of stuffing down inside ourselves, we must be brave and feel the emotion. What is it trying to tell us? Usually, my anxiety is just my subconscious mind telling me that I am on the wrong path. If I continuously push the emotions inside of me and never explore them, then I will stay in the place of pain. If I write my emotions down and explore them, I can understand them.

Learning to silence my mind, even for a few minutes at a time, has been one of the greatest things I have learned. The more I meditate and try to understand things, the more I feel God’s love and peace in my soul. Living in the present moment has helped me so much. Noticing the world around me helps me find joy at this moment and release the heartache of my past and the worry of my future. This moment is all that we have. Let’s search for the joy in it.