Learning About Feelings

[blueelectron9]

I have been working with my T over the past number of weeks trying to get an idea of what it's like to feel and to understand my feelings. She is working from a book for Borderline Personality Disorder and has given me many assignments on Love, Joy, Anger, Sadness, and Fear.

Each assignment lists words associated with the feeling and has sentences that describe what could cause one to have the feeling, what the feeling is like, etc. I have found it to be tremendously helpful. I felt anger after doing my anger exercise and journaled about how angry I was with my mother and father. Since then in my next T session, I expressed just how much anger I have bundled up inside of me. My partner says that I misdirect it a lot, and I would agree (e.g., road rage, etc.).

It is astonishing how I catch myself dissociating whenever I start to have a feeling and when I allow myself to really feel what I'm feeling, I feel more empowered and in control.

I like being in control.

Thanks for listening,
Scotty

 

[Stephen_5]

Scotty,

I've there's a saying in AA about learning to feel, feel everything good and bad. After I'd started therapy (almost 6.5 years ago!!!!, egad!) my T asked me what I felt about what happened to me. All of a sudden I realized that I hadn't felt anything at all for years. His question was like someone talking in a foriegn tongue to me. And I started to feel again.

Feeling is a good feeling even when I'm feeling sad.

Take good care of yourself,

Steve

 

[outis]

Scotty,

Good for you. It sounds great. Could you please pass on the name of the book with those assignments? I'd really appreciate that. I spend a lot of time dabbling with languages, but that's still a foreign tongue to me, too.

Thank you,

Joe

 

[David1010]

If I may add, sometimes I have preferred not to deal with my feelings because they feel not in touch with reality. This is particularly true when I feel fear. I feel afraid of things, people or situations that don't even exist.

What helped me was dealing with feelings and talking about what kind of thing will start certain feelings. My T helped me sort what things I was feeling based on real facts and which things I was feeling out of trauma.

The feeling journey is an intersting one. It also helped me grow and get past some of them to see everything in a more realistic way.

Sounds like you have a good T.

 

Scotty,

I really wish I was at that stage.

But you are right. The dissocostian is hard for me. But I am learning to feel it. To let my guys talk and feel.

Not making much sense about it. Maybe I will have a clearer picture when I talk to you.

Thank you,

Marc