Permission to feel the full range of emotions

For some reason many of us are under the misconception that certain feelings are okay to have and others aren’t. Usually happiness falls in the first category and anger, disappointment, jealousy, sadness … the list goes on and on … fall in the second. We go on to feel we have to always present a happy face – sometimes to certain people, sometimes to everyone. As a result there is a huge gap between what we really feel and what we present to others. I have heard of situations that are so extreme that a person has committed suicide and yet they have always appeared happy to everyone – even those closest to them. Yet, these are all just human feelings. When we allow ourselves to feel them, we can also see that they come and go – that they are simply part of the rich tapestry of life.