What Does it Mean to Accept Your Emotions?

Accept your feelings. How difficult can it be? Most of us have been brought up to think that our feelings are bad, evil, wrong... and we do everything in our power to suppress them. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy, as it makes us feel weak, unworthy, foolish and even stupid! Learning to accept your feelings is one of the first steps to freedom.


Emotions are part of a complex system. If we are lucky enough to have an emotional awareness, we will have been lucky enough not to have had to deal with most of them. If we are lucky enough not to have had to deal with most of them, then it probably would have been easier for us to figure out how to get rid of some of them, if we could have done so. However, there are those emotions that we just can't get rid of. Accepting them means you are practicing letting go, without trying to manipulate them, controlling them or denying their existence.

How many times have you heard someone say that they wished they could get back what they lost when they suffered abuse as a child? Or how many times have you heard someone say that they wish they had never gotten involved with this person, because of all the intense emotions they had as a child? I know that many people say these things as an attempt to cope with past experiences, which is understandable. If you were hit by a car and you say you wish you could get back the car, you would think about what it would feel like to get back the car, wouldn't you? Maybe you would get angry, but you would also think about how to get it back, right?

People with a PD would say, "Of course I wish the other person had not driven home that night," but that's just a coping mechanism. It doesn't solve anything, in fact, it makes it worse. You can't change the past. However, accepting your emotions as they come, can help you survive the day, and even thrive.

When you are experiencing extreme emotions, like pain, guilt, anger or fear, accepting your emotional pain is a great first step. Letting go of the pain and guilt helps you move on quickly towards healing. As you learn to let go of what is past, you begin to heal from the emotional pain, which is what triggers the depression, anxiety and stress that you experience on a daily basis. Accepting your emotions is the very first step toward acceptance.

Sometimes though, you are unable to accept your emotions. When this happens, you might be suffering from depression, which is characterized by sadness, hopelessness and feelings of worthlessness. There is also anxiety, which is characterized by apprehension, fear, worry, nervousness and stress. This can cause problems when trying to maintain an emotional balance, because anxiety usually causes feelings of apprehension and fear. When you are having trouble accepting these emotions and have difficulties moving on, you may be suffering from a combination of depression and anxiety.

The solution to this problem, which is dealing with pushing away emotions is for you to acknowledge them so that you can deal with them. If you are unable to acknowledge them, or if you push them away, it is likely that you will be unable to move on, or heal from the emotional pain. When you push away emotions you are making yourself feel bad, and you are setting yourself up for more pain. Your body is telling you that something isn't right and needs attention. If you push the emotions away, you won't be able to move on or heal. When you are open to the feelings of others, you will be able to give them the attention and respect that they need, and will be better equipped to move on.


As we get older we start to lose our ability to hear and judge the feelings of others. We also become more emotionally connected and start relying on our intuition more. However, all of these things can contribute to the fact that we don't always recognize the emotions that are coming from others. We can accept and love them without judging, without reacting and without trying to make them stop. When we accept and love our emotions, we are better equipped to let them go and to experience their true essence.