Impulses, Emotions and the Rational Mind

Getting to the Root of it All. 

Excerpt from an article written by Hala Khouri for Elephant Journal

Impulses, Emotions and the Rational Mind

We can think of our consciousness as having three parts—our impulses, which are connected to the most primitive and animalistic part of our brain, our emotions and our rational mind. In order to be balanced, we need to be in relationship with all three parts of ourselves, if one part gets stifled, it will clog us up physically and emotionally.

Yet, most of us are taught to suppress our impulses and only acknowledge our feelings insofar as it’s not inconvenient or uncomfortable for others. The side effect of that is tension and addiction; it takes a lot of work to suppress our impulses and our feelings.

You might be concerned that if all people decided to act on their impulses the world would be chaotic and unsafe. You’re probably right. What we need to do is learn to express our impulses and the fullness of our feelings in a safe way that does not harm ourselves or someone else.

Just even acknowledging our impulses can often be enough.

Children don’t have a highly developed neo cortex and for this reason they are very impulsive and emotional. All of us were kids at some point, and how our parents dealt with our big feelings and behavior creates a template for how we deal with them in ourselves and others. If we were shamed for our feelings or told not to express ourselves, we will likely internalize that voice and then shame ourselves.

If we weren’t taught what to do with our big feelings and impulses as children, how are we to know what to do with them as adults?

Click here for the full article: http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/07/getting-to-the-root-of-it-all-hala-khouri/