Emotion is the Language of the Heart
by Ann Albers, Phoenix, AZ
When was the last time you reached for something you truly wanted without analyzing whether or not you were worthy of it, what it meant, and if it was OK to have that heart’s desire? It seems our minds are filled with a veritable trash heap of thoughts, judgments, belief structures, and fears that pollute our simple knowing.
Within each of you, there are many forms of intelligence, including the intelligence of the thinking mind (as opposed to Divine Mind) and the intelligence of the heart. The heart’s job is to bring you guidance directly from God. The thinking mind is supposed to figure out how to satisfy and follow the heart’s guidance.
The heart’s language is one of emotion. Emotions are simply energy in motion. Almost every emotion serves a purpose and brings a message from your spirit. If you know how to decipher emotional energy, you can better understand your own heart.
If you feel angry, for example, this is a message from your spirit that something or someone in your life is not in alignment with what you want to experience. Anger is meant to help you take responsibility for your own happiness. Harness the intense desire for growth that lies beneath the anger, and you will understand the force that causes a seed to burst out of its shell and push through the dirt into the light. Anger is meant to inspire you to move out of a dark situation. Anger is not intended to be aimed at others.
If you are angry, ask yourself, “What do I need to do or say in order to take responsibility for my own happiness?” If someone is abusive or has hurt you, you need to communicate from the heart, move away from the situation, or get help. Remaining angry does not change a thing and simply implodes an energy that is meant to create movement. Aiming your anger at the other serves no purpose as well. When you recognize that your anger is a desire to be treated kindly, this mandates action. Blaming others for your unhappy situations fosters victimization, feelings of helplessness, and in extreme cases, disease.
Sadness shows us where we are having a hard time embracing life as it is. When you’re sad, seek out comfort in healthy ways and focus on accepting whatever has occurred in your life to make you feel badly. Sadness occurs when our minds want life to behave a certain way, but the River has pushed us in another direction. We have to let go of our expectations, or we will feel torn apart. This is why we feel such lackluster energy when we are sad. We are fighting the River.
For example, I am saddened when people are nasty to one another, especially when someone is nasty to me. I truly long for a peaceful, cooperative world. However, I can’t change anyone. I have to help the people who want help and accept the fact that there are those who don’t want to change.
Envy shows you where you feel helpless to create what you want in life.
You think another person has been graced or blessed, but you have not. In reality, you simply have to take charge, intend, focus, and pray for what you want, and stop focusing on your lack. Focusing on lack brings more lack. Focusing on abundance brings more abundance. To remedy jealousy, harness its nuggets of truth—you want something in your life—and put your energy toward creating that. Never begrudge another his or her success. One who succeeds paves the way for others to do the same. If you are brave, ask the person you are jealous of how they got whatever it is you want. They may even help you towards your dreams.
Loneliness is an emotion that shows us we want companionship, which is a natural human desire. If you want life to reach out and embrace you, you need to reach out and embrace life. Be kind to people when you are out running errands, and chat with people who attract your attention as you wait in line at the grocery store. Find groups of people who are interested in things that fascinate you. Join a church or find a spiritual group that resonates with you. Sign up for classes or volunteer. Join Internet discussions on topics you feel strongly about. The angels often say, “If you want the world to see you, be you.” No one is likely to find you if you hide out.
If you love someone who doesn’t return your love, consider the fact that your heart longs for what you perceive the other to be or what you imagine he or she could become. Rather than targeting someone who can’t or isn’t willing to love you, pray and ask God to bring you a match made in heaven. Trust.
Fear is an emotion that shows us our illusions. Fear shows you where your past has taught you to withdraw from or fight life. When you are in fear, seek healing, the solace of friends, and the advice of wise counsel, or at least do deep breathing and pray for God and the angels to help remove the fears. Fear is one of the few truly useless emotions and is the way the denser energies manipulate us and keep us from feeling joy. We think fear protects us from further harm, but in truth, fear dulls our natural senses and ability to discern what is healthy and what is not.
Worry is another feeling that serves little purpose. It is born of fear, not faith and trust in God. Nonetheless, the angels say that beneath every fear is a love of the thing you fear you can’t have, or the thing you fear will be taken away. Beneath worry is love as well. Find and acknowledge the love, focus on that, and you will have alchemically transformed these relatively ineffective feelings.
Joy tells you something is right for you. Suppose you absolutely love baking, but you can’t possibly eat all you produce. Bake anyway and contribute to a local shelter, or share with people who need a little lift. I love to cook and find it to be a creative outlet, so for Christmas, I gifted some very busy and very dear friends with a meal a month. I have found an outlet for my soul’s joy, and they have more time to relax.
It is important to embrace the so-called negative emotions as well as the positive ones because they, too, contain messages from the soul. They show us areas where we need to acknowledge our need to love or be loved. They show us where we’re aligned with our spirit or not. If the River can’t get your attention via the more positive longings of your soul, the currents of grace will allow you to flow into circumstances where you feel the heavier emotions. Even this is Love.
The logic of the mind is completely different from the logic of the heart. The mind attempts to label, categorize, and file bits of information. When you encounter a new situation, the mind attempts to find the most closely related experience in its database. In that capacity, the mind is limited. The thinking mind tends to project the past onto the future. It is the equivalent of a computer designed to help you fulfill your dreams. The mind was never intended to run your life. In fact, the rational mind is designed to serve the heart.
Excerpted with permission from Love is the River, by Ann Albers.
Ann Albers is a popular author, spiritual instructor, angel communicator, and modern mystic who has spoken at conferences with famous authors, been featured on international radio shows, and who delights in helping people experience the power and beauty of their own soul. She guides people to manifest lives they love, and develop a blissful connection with spirit! Her free weekly “Messages from Ann & the Angels” reach an international audience with inspiration and tips to help you stay tuned in and turned on! Learn more at www.visionsofheaven.com. Her book, Love is the River, Learning to Live in the Flow of Divine Grace, can be purchased at https://www.amazon.com/Love-River-Learning-Divine-Grace/dp/1949780007/
