Honoring Your Emotions: How to Sit with What You Feel and Meet Yourself with Compassion

The Emotional Conditioning We Carry

For many of us, feeling emotions has never felt safe.

We grew up hearing things like:

• “Stop crying.”

• “You’re being too sensitive.”

• “If you’re going to cry, I’ll give you something to cry about.”

• “You’re too much.”

• “Your emotions are too big.”

So we learned to push it all down.

We became experts at holding it together, “sucking it up,” and smiling through the pain—even when we were breaking inside.

But your emotions aren’t a threat. They aren’t here to drown you.

They’re here to be felt. To be heard. To be honored.

Learning to sit with your emotions—without judgment or shame—isn’t weakness.

It’s an act of radical self-love.

Why Honoring Your Emotions Matters

When you suppress your emotions, they don’t disappear.

They sink deeper. And eventually, they resurface through:

• Repeating patterns you can’t seem to break

• Sudden emotional outbursts that feel overwhelming

• Numbness, exhaustion, or feeling “stuck”

Honoring your emotions gives them space to move through you.

Not to fix them, but to witness them.

Not to control them, but to allow them.

When you stop fighting your feelings, they stop fighting back.

Signs You Might Be Avoiding Emotion

You don’t need to be numb to be disconnected. Sometimes emotional avoidance looks like high-functioning survival.

If any of these sound familiar, you’re not alone:

• Constant distraction or staying “busy”

• Overanalyzing instead of feeling

• Sudden irritability or snapping at small things

• Feeling nothing at all—even when something big happens

• Saying “I don’t know why I’m crying” when it finally hits

Recognizing the avoidance is a powerful first step. No shame—just awareness.

How to Start Sitting with Your Emotions

If no one ever taught you how to feel your feelings safely, start here. This is a practice. One moment at a time.

1. Pause and name what you’re feeling.

What am I feeling right now?

Naming an emotion can help you step out of overwhelm and into presence.

2. Acknowledge it without judgment.

It’s okay to feel this way. I don’t need to fix it.

Let it exist without rushing to analyze or change it.

3. Breathe and let it move through you.

This feeling is like a wave—it will pass.

Emotion = energy in motion. Let it move.

4. Offer yourself kindness.

I am safe to feel this. I’m allowed to have this experience.

Your feelings are valid. Always.

Tip: If it feels too big, place your hand on your chest and breathe slowly. Stay with yourself.

Honoring vs. Wallowing

This is one of the most important distinctions in emotional work.

• Honoring your emotions means letting them move through you—without suppression or fixation.

• Wallowing means looping inside the story behind the emotion and staying stuck.

Real-Life Example:

• Honoring: Letting yourself cry in the car without shame.

• Wallowing: Repeating “nothing ever works out for me” over and over, feeding that hopelessness.

You’re allowed to feel the depth. Just don’t build a home in the pain.

Why Honoring Is Hard

For many of us, sitting with emotions is uncomfortable—sometimes even terrifying.

Why? Because we were taught that strength means control. That crying makes us weak. That big feelings are burdens.

But when emotions are left unprocessed, they don’t just disappear.

They often show up as:

• Tension in the jaw, shoulders, chest, or gut

• Chronic fatigue or burnout

• Emotional reactions that feel outsized or confusing

Try asking:

• What is this emotion trying to tell me?

• Where do I feel it in my body?

• What would happen if I let it exist—without trying to solve it?

Tip: Think of emotions like weather—they shift and pass when they’re allowed to move.

Visualize This: Your Younger Self

If you’re struggling to meet your emotions with compassion, try this:

Picture your younger self—the 6-year-old version of you. Or imagine a best friend, a child, or a younger sibling feeling what you’re feeling right now.

Now ask:

• What would I say to them?

• How would I hold them?

• What do they need to hear to feel safe?

Chances are, what they need is exactly what you need right now.

Self-Compassion in the Moment

Here’s how compassion sounds when you’re sitting with heavy emotions:

• “It’s okay to feel this. I’m allowed to feel this.”

• “This won’t last forever.”

• “I’m here with you. You’re safe with me.”

• “I don’t need to push this away to be okay.”

Speak to yourself like someone you love. Like someone who deserves tenderness.

Grounding After Emotional Work

After sitting with a strong emotion, your body might still feel activated. Take a moment to come back to yourself.

Try a Body Scan:

1. Close your eyes and breathe deeply.

2. Slowly move your awareness from your head to your feet.

3. Notice tension in your jaw, shoulders, belly, hips.

4. Breathe into each space. Imagine softening it.

Ask: What’s still holding on?

Invite: What can I let go of right now?

Other Simple Grounding Practices:

• Walk barefoot and feel the texture beneath your feet.

• Place your hands under cool water and imagine it washing away emotional heaviness.

• Hold a grounding stone (like black tourmaline or hematite) and repeat: I am here. I am safe.

• Press your feet firmly into the floor. Let the ground hold you.

Tip: Make grounding a regular ritual, not just a post-crisis tool. It helps your nervous system build safety over time.

Journal Prompts for Emotional Awareness

Ready to go a little deeper?

• What emotion feels hardest for me to feel? Why?

• When do I tend to distract myself instead of feeling?

• What’s one thing I’ve been holding in that needs space to be seen?

These questions aren’t about fixing—just noticing.

Emotional Presence & Shadow Work

Sitting with your emotions is often the first step of shadow work.

Because before you can explore your beliefs, unpack your patterns, or reclaim your power—you have to learn how to feel.

You can’t integrate what you won’t allow yourself to experience.

Start here. Let this be your foundation.

Final Thoughts

This work isn’t easy.

But it’s sacred.

You don’t need to have perfect emotional regulation. You just need to start showing up for yourself—especially when it’s hard.

Your emotions aren’t a weakness.

They’re a language. A map. A sacred part of being alive.

The more you learn to honor them, the more you’ll come home to yourself.

You’ve got this. One breath, one feeling, one moment at a time.

Want More Support?

My Beginner’s Guide to Shadow Work is just $7 and includes rituals, prompts, and tools to help you explore your emotions gently.➝ Grab your guide here

Keep Going

➝ Coming Soon: [The Emotion You’ve Been Avoiding (and What It’s Trying to Say)]

➝ Coming Soon: [Shadow Work & Triggers: Why They Matter More Than You Think]

➝ Coming Soon: [How to Build Emotional Safety Inside Your Body]