Emotions Comics

Here is a little comic I drew one day, when I wanted to do something creative and had a general idea I wanted to convey in comic form. It's been a while (months) since I drew it and I have been meaning to post it since them. But through the magic of not telling you, the wait will feel like mere seconds. Here it is:

There are a bunch more elements to this, but I a) didn't have time to draw them at the time and b) didn't want to busy the simple comic with too many details, alternate paths, and addendums.

But I'll mention some of them here.

- if you put the emotions to the side for too long, they can go 'stale' or even go 'bad' (think: something you left in the fridge for too long, not a moral judgment.) Then they are harder to integrate, and have negative repercussions in your life (think: "what's that weird smell" constantly in the background because something in the fridge has gone bad)

- often there is an element of knowledge, or information, the the emotion is trying to convey to you. If you can accurately parse what that is, "what are you trying to tell me?" that can also diffuse much or all of the intensity of the emotion. Like someone knocking on your door to deliver an important message, progressively getting louder, then banging, then shouting. Once they give you the message and know it's been received, they go away.

- In regards to that last one: sometimes (often) the information is very useful, but sometimes we've developed phobias or maladaptive coping patterns or biases, and then the information isn't necessarily accurate. But it still needs to be heard and acknowledged to let it dissipate.

- If you keep putting a wall up and pushing away uncomfortable emotions, they don't actually keep getting bigger forever, emotions constantly fluctuate, and we can't maintain high intensity for very long. However, even if they are just pretty bad, from being repressed or distracted from, the cost is high. Like having a bunch of interest on a credit card that you have to pay off every week, the emotions you're pushing away are taking a toll on your general well-being.

- Also related to that pathway, often, at some point, the emotion gets big enough that it breaks through the wall. This is someone having a freak-out, or blowing up at someone else, etc., over something that doesn't seem like that big of a deal. Sometimes that does integrate the feeling, though likely un-gracefully and with hurt feelings and guilt about the blow-up. Often it does not. The cause of the feeling is projected onto someone else, out there, and so why should I have to do anything (like welcome with awareness my feelings) because it's something out there that needs to change for me to feel better, not something inside me. And the inside work doesn't get done.

There are some other related elements: how often the welcoming in of the emotion brings the information it has. How sometimes expressing the feelings in a more active way helps integrate the emotions. How doing this process can give us better access to more accurate intuitive and 'felt sense' information coming in. How this process relates to motivation, how we often have opposing motivations that keep us frozen or vacillating back and forth without making much forward progress. And how this process can facilitate gaining wisdom, beyond just information.

As I said, there was a lot I could have added. Maybe in other comics that are addendums or continuations of this one (going off in different paths, like a choose your own adventure?)

But there is wisdom in simplicity, and in doing something, even if it isn't everything. So here it is.