Inderpal Wig

Your Pain Is Real

This article really clicked with me today in talking about the importance of feelings, and taking the time to accept and address our feelings rather than being forced by the societal norms to ignore or overcome them before we’ve even had a chance to feel them!

In a few hours, as part of the Roots of Empathy program I’ll be leading a class of grade 2 students in learning about feelings. One of the simple activities that we’ll be doing today involves listing the differences between our baby doll, Max, and our 7-month old, real baby teacher, Flora, have between them. The main aim of the activity is for the kids to recognize that humans have feelings, they feel pain, they need to be taken care of and comforted - a simple truth that I think a lot of us fail to acknowledge in our daily lives.

The reason I’m in love with this program and its mission is because it’s growing love, compassion and empathy in children, and adults. As the founder of the program Mary Gordon says, “The world would be a lot less cruel, if we had more empathy in the world” - can you really argue that? We’re living in a society today where we’re told to hold back our feelings, and not express them - oddly enough it seems we tend to hold back more of the positive feelings than the negative ones - so much so that it seems acceptable or the norm to portray anger, hatred, pride, ego, because somehow we associate those to strength, confidence or “coolness”, but portraying feelings of joy, love, sorrow, excitement, compassion or sympathy can easily get you labeled “weired” or “weak”.

Just yesterday, I read another article that outlined “Feelings want to be felt”, and it’s equally important to spend time considering why we’re feeling the way we are, so we can continue to understand, express and grow from them. 

Emotional literacy is our doorway into not only understanding ourselves but being able to empathize and relate with others that we interact with daily so we don’t become cold and apathetic to our environment that we are so very much a part of and interconnected with. So let’s not deny this understanding and awareness to ourselves, or to others. Being able to feel, understand and express your feelings, is not a weakness, it is indeed a strength needed for a warm, compassionate, and loving world.