I often hear myself say ‘feel into it’. These three words mean a lot to me. I call on this ‘feeling into it’ a lot when something is niggling, when I think too much, worry, when I notice I’m not relaxed and some degree of tension is present. Anytime I’m not calm, really. I ‘feel into it’. And that brings revolutionary change.
Feeling. My go-to. It guides me. It’s nothing emotional, or going to altered states. It’s just an activity. Of being here and now. Emotions can arise. Feelings can arise. But the feeling itself is an action. An action of stillness. Just sitting, resting, going quiet and feel.
Feeling points us in the right direction
Whatever arises from ‘feeling into it’ points me in the right direction. Of what really needs my attention. Within. It brings me to the deeper underlying emotion, the hurt, the pain, the need, the wound. So I can see what is really at play here. The situation that has arisen and the reason for needing to ‘feel into it’ is merely a symptom of what is going on at a deeper level.
A metaphor to compare: disease. The symptoms are rash, itch, pain. We can treat the symptoms with creams and pills, but if we don’t get to the core of the cause, we won’t really heal. The symptoms might get milder or disappear, but as soon as we forget to apply the cream, take the painkiller or a new trigger sets it off, symptoms are back fully.
Underlying layers
Taking this back to feeling. Feeling into something takes us to the core. The underlying cause of today’s symptoms. Symptoms as in our habits, patterns, suffering, tensions, anything that somehow keeps us from living fully, freely and joyfully.
Whatever arises when we feel is true. It’s not something we make up with our minds. No stories we tell ourselves. Our bodies are truthtellers. Any emotion or feeling is real. Whether they are the real us, is a different story, because they are not. They just come from ‘layers’ we put on over time. And feeling into stuff helps us to discover and explore these layers, so we can take them off again at some stage. And come back closer to who we truly are.
Feeling connects us with energy only. An energy for which no words exist in the moment of feeling itself. It’s wise to not try to describe it too quickly, even if we want to understand, or make it go away. Words come later. They distract. Stay with feeling. Go deep. Go deeper. With all the uncomfortableness or pain that may surface. Breathe. Breathe again. When we really deeply feel into something we access realness, truth, seeing. And once we connect with that, we get our hands on some valuable information!
Discovering patterns
When I’ve felt into something, often other experiences from life came up in which the same feelings were felt. Just like a certain smell can bring back a memory. I think it is the same for feelings. We can start to link different -what seem like unrelated- experiences.
Maybe we can discover some patterns or themes. And the more we feel into it, the more we see, taking us to the core, the place where the patterns of today’s symptoms were formed.
The gold for me in here is this: by seeing the core, and getting to the root of understanding, we can start to recognise when the core wound, the layer is at play. This way the symptom is no longer an annoying experience we judge or try to get rid off. Instead, we see where it comes from. We can just tell ourselves ‘ah, the layer is at play, this is not the real me’. Bringing that kind of awareness to these moments, we disconnect from the experience, and it is no longer part of us, we see it is part of a layer. And when we see that, it starts to lose its power over us. That’s the end-value of ‘feeling into it’.
It is not fun, but it is good news
Feeling into it. There is so much to it. It’s being with our true experience of the moment, to embrace it, and let it tell us what it wants to say. To stay with it, without trying to understand or explain or change. This way we get deeper, to the core of today’s suffering. It is likely uncomfortable, shame might come up, fear might come up, regrets, pain and so on. All that is good news. We’re on to something. We are on our way to seeing, to clarity, to understanding. To awareness. So we can bring awareness to today’s experience. And when we do that, the ‘symptoms’ are no longer in control. They lose their power over us. As we can now see they are not the real us, but part of the wound. And the symptoms will slowly disappear, as we no longer treat them, we are treating the core. By facing it. And giving it the right quality of attention.
