Honor thy Father and Mother
Commandment #5, The Ten Commandments
We’re expected to pay honor to our Mother and Father, regardless of our relationships. For many this can create some major mix ups in feelings on the day we call “Father’s Day”.
Even if we have good relationships with our parent or parents, feelings can arise that we don’t quite understand. These feelings may not seem to relate to our activities on the actual holiday.
And if we’ve had a rocky childhood, or if we experience conflicts with a parent, those feelings may be even more intense.
We looked up to the adults in our lives, we depended on them for our needs. If those needs were not met, tiny woundings may have happened. Trying to make sense of our pain, we may have locked that pain into an emotional scar.
There’s no blame here. This is just what happens.
And as the years go by, those emotions that were locked in may revisit to offer us the opportunity, as adults, to meet our own needs and release any pain.
So if Father’s Day has caught you by surprise, in any way, with more intense emotions, or uncomfortable emotions, I have some ideas.
“Father’s Day can bring up intense feelings that don’t align with the celebration we seem expected to feel.
These feelings can be our teachers, if we let them”
Deborah Ivanoff
1. Choose to Face Your Feelings
We usually figure out pretty early in life that emotions are frowned upon. But recent studies are proving that learning the skills to use our emotions intelligently can really pay off.
The first step then is to acknowledge, for yourself, the emotions you are feeling. You don’t have to know “why” you feel the way you do. Just choose to face the feeling you have.
There it is. That’s the feeling.
Just that alone, may open a doorway for the feeling to simply pass on and go. If it helps, think of yourself as a witness. You don’t have to get involved, you’re just watching the feeling rise and fall like you might watch the waves at the beach.
2. Uncover and Discover
What is your favorite way of discovering more about who you are and what you are capable of; journaling, meditation, prayer, trusted confidante?
Any feeling has information for you, if you’ll only ask. It may be practical information about a need you have, that you can now fulfill on your own. It may point to where you could use healing. It may know what needs to be released or changed so that you can have more of what you do want.
Go straight to the feeling and let it help you with guidance for what to do next.
3. Get Support
Need help? Everyone does!
You don’t have to feel alone as you face, embrace and transform the emotions that surface.
Gather the resources you know work, and ask your Higher Self for help. Use a questions like, “What could I find to help support me in processing these feelings and what they are trying to teach me?”
Then connect with your powerpact, mastermind, teachers, mentors, coaches, counselors and/or guides. Just make sure you work with a person who in confidence in you, who can see you as capable and growing into your next transformation. Make sure you feel safe and heard when in that person’s presence.
I hope I have encouraged you to embrace and use the emotions that may pop up on a day like today. They are powerful messengers that can help you heal, learn, and grow.
Let me know how you’re doing in the comments below.
And if you need help, please reach out. It is my aim to be a resource for this very important work. Let me know how I can support you.