A friend of mine and I were just talking,
…. It’s all the same message in understanding our consciousness, our awareness, our feelings, and more ….
G Rubin -To be happy – her process is to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, all in an atmosphere of growth. p67.
Happiness and unhappiness are not opposite sides of the same coin, they are distinct and rise and fall independently. p65
E Tolle – We are not our thoughts; we are the observer of our thoughts.
Happiness is something that comes; you don’t seek happiness. If you feel unhappy, first you need to acknowledge that it is there. p95
Jean Watson –
And then I sat down to read Jean Watson’s 2008, Nursing; The philosophy and Science of Caring.
It is how we accept, honor and respond to our feelings that makes the difference in our emotional and cognitive life world. Once we are able to honor our feelings, to give ourselves permission to feel, we are made more aware of the feelings. Then we can better understand the deeper emotions and situation that may have triggered the specific feelings.
Eventually, we understand that feelings are universal, that there is no such thing as a good or bad feeling. Everyone has feelings. That realization alone may free the person, allowing for equanimity, forgiveness, and gentleness toward self. Feelings come and go, but we realize that we are not our feelings. Then one is free to respond to the situation more clearly, more appropriately, even with a sense of loving-kindness and compassion. Thus, the expression of feeling is a healing act in itself. p103
Finally, if feelings, both positive and negative, can and do change thoughts and influence one’s relationship with self and other, the practice of caring must be systematically attentive to people’s feelings. p105
This consciousness, this awareness of our feelings and thoughts …. brings caring from the background of our professional practice to the foreground.
