When you listen to your emotions, then actions that support your values, help you stay aware of changes around you, help you move forward with your goals and dreams, and help you let go of what's not working are all part of it.
Your anger asks, "what do I value?," and helps you take action to maintain your values.
Your fear asks, "what action should be taken?," and keeps you aware of changes around you.
Your envy and anxiety help inform you about what you want for your future, and what you need to do to make that happen.
Your sadness asks, "what needs to be released?," and, "what needs to be rejuvenated?," so that you stay in the flow of your emotions.
Often, just being able to recognize and name the emotions that you're feeling can help you know what to do with them. To use an analogy, look at these flowers. When you can identify the flower, then you know how best to tend it. It's similar with emotions.
The flowers in this picture are crocuses, and they are bulbs that need to be planted in the fall, to flower in early spring. When you can identify your sadness, then you can check in with yourself about what needs to be released, or rejuvenated, and then take action.
The 4 Keys to Emotional Genius can act as a basis for accepting and welcoming your emotions:
All Emotions Have Value
Emotions Come in Multiples
Emotions Come in Different Intensities
Channel Your Emotions
When you can notice that you're feeling frustrated (soft anger), name the feeling, then feel into your anger to find out what message it has for you, then you'll be working with your emotions!
If you want more structure, you can ask yourself the questions for anger: "what do I value? What must be protected and restored?", and then take action if necessary.
Since most of us have been taught to ignore or repress or get rid of our emotions, these Keys are easier said than done. Knowing them is a start. Working with them, and challenging the ideas you have around them, is another way of integrating these Keys into your experiential knowledge of yourself and your emotions.
Reading the Keys and knowing the Keys is two different things, so I've developed a short workshop designed to help you experience the 4 Keys to Emotional Genius through the lens of your sadness, fear, anger, and happiness, called Awakening to Your Emotions.
Using lots of examples to illustrate the different intensities and actions that these emotions can take, I will lead you through experiential exercises, group inquiry and discussion, and expressive practices to facilitate your own experience of the 4 Keys.
Awakening to Your Emotions a 2.5 hour introductory workshop, designed for anyone who's curious about their emotions. Join me on Saturday, February 19th, at 10am PST for the exploration of the 4 Keys to Emotional Genius.
If your friends or family are curious about the work you're doing with emotions and want to know more, then this workshop is a gentle introduction to working with emotions.