Sink Or Swim
This article is devoted to water and its importance to our health. What we can learn about water is important to our emotional and spiritual health as well as what we’ve already learned about it in relation to our physical health. Water is a universal archetype or symbol for the energy of emotion. We find examples of this symbology throughout global cultures and spiritual systems. In earth-based spiritual systems, the elements of nature reflect the elements of man. Air represents the mind, earth represents the physical or material aspect, fire represents action and expression, and water represents emotion. In Tarot decks, the suit of cups (water container) represent emotion. The symbol of water itself in the cards also represents emotion. In the Native American spiritual system, water represents emotional energy as observed in the energetic representations of water-based animals like the beaver. There are valuable insights that we can gain into our emotional nature through exploring the nature of water as an analogy for the nature of emotional energy. Exploring the way Beaver interacts with his watery environment draws the analogy perfectly.
Beaver attempts to stem the flow of the stream so it cannot wash away the warm, dry home he builds deep in the heart of the dam, away from land walking predators. If he builds the dam properly, his home will remain a haven of safety where he can breathe and stay warm. For beaver, then, the dam he builds is a means of survival.
Beaver’s intent is to stop all flow of water through the dam. The stream becomes a lake behind the dam, overflowing its banks and flooding the land. Beaver cannot build a perfectly water tight dam with only logs, twigs and mud, however, and soon enough water begins leaking through in various places. For awhile, the water leaks through the cracks in the dam, relieving some of the pressure continuously pressing against it. Beaver industriously spends a tremendous amount of time and energy attempting to maintain and repair the cracks as they appear. Some of the cracks are too deep though, and escape his notice, or are impossible to repair. He’s fighting a losing battle and in time the constant leaking and the pressure of the water behind the dam win over all Beaver’s attempts to hold back the flood he knows will destroy his home. The dam gives way and the water rushes through in a sudden, rushing flood. Beaver’s home is washed away and he must begin building all over again.
Humans often build dams against the flow of emotional energy in their lives. We use denial, suppression, and avoidance instead of logs, twigs, and mud, but the dam is constructed in much the same way as Beaver builds his. Just like Beaver, our dam is constructed as an attempt to survive in warmth and safety. The same thing happens to our emotional environment behind the dam that happened to the stream. The flow of energy becomes blocked and forms a lake behind the block. The pressure of emotional energy builds as the lake of energy grows larger and pushes insistently against the dam we’ve created. Soon enough, the pressure exposes the weaknesses in the dam and emotional energy begins to trickle and flow through. We spend a lot time and energy repairing and rebuilding our dam wherever we recognize a weakness, but like Beaver, many of the cracks are far below our surface awareness and escape our recognition or ability to repair. Emotions wind up flowing through and being felt and expressed in subtle ways. Eventually, we lose to the leaking and constant pressure just as Beaver does.
The dam gives way and the lake of emotional energy rushes through in an explosion of feeling that washes us away in its intensity. When the flood has passed and the pressure is relieved we regain emotional control enough to reconstruct our dam. Unfortunately, using dams (blocking and suppression) to control what we feel and how we react to it, sets up a continual cycle of emotional suppression and flooding (loss of emotional control). This obviously is not a healthy way to live. The cycle we are living means we wind up spending a large percentage of our time and energy focused on building and repairing our dam, attempting to manage the effects of the emotional pressure we recognize as emotional stress, and handling damage control when the dam breaks. We get hurt in the cycle and so do those who have regular interaction with us.
The Native Americans say that one of Beaver’s positive characteristics is his habit of swimming with his head out of the water. This is the characteristic we should adopt emotionally. If we are damming up or fighting against our own emotional current instead of flowing with it, then we will eventually exhaust ourselves and become overwhelmed or drown in whatever emotion we are fighting off when the pressure becomes greater than our ability to hold it back. A more effective action to take with our emotions is to stop fighting their flow and swim with them. Keeping our heads “above water” as we swim in the flow is learning to maintain objectivity and perspective with our feelings so that we don’t become lost through total immersion in what we are experiencing.
Allowing ourselves to feel our emotions instead of blocking or denying them is the key to giving up “dam building” behavior. Learning to express the emotions we feel constructively as they occur is what is known as swimming with the flow. Constructive expression of our feelings can be determined by a couple of simple rules. We apply the first rule by ensuring that what we express will not be destructive or hurtful to ourselves or anyone else. We apply the second rule by making sure that what we feel is expressed outwardly into the world in whatever way it wants to come through. This can be done privately without witnesses, or in a supportive or therapeutic setting if needed, but it is important that the emotional energy be allowed to flow unrestricted. If it is not expressed, it will simply increase the emotional pressure building up behind the block placed to stop its expression.
We all have old, unexpressed emotions from our past. We have lived through events and situations that created emotional wounds which need healing and in many cases we are currently in situations that are wounding or emotionally painful. Because of our social conditioning as to what is considered “good” or “bad”, and “acceptable” or “unacceptable” behavior we often feel at a loss as to how to express our feelings honestly. As a result we have come to label the emotions themselves which drive our desire to behave in certain ways, by the same labels we’ve learned to apply to those behaviors. It is important to realize that our emotions themselves are never “good” or “bad”. There is no such thing as a positive or negative emotion. Emotions arise from the non-rational subconscious and simply are what they are. No “logical” judgment can be applied to them. Emotions can be acknowledged, accepted, and validated for being what they are and that is all that can be said about them. The only thing we can judge is how and where we choose to express those emotions. When we stop judging the emotions themselves then we can begin to accept and flow with them naturally. Like Beaver, we begin to swim with our heads out of the water and stop drowning in our own flood of unexpressed feelings. This empowers us to feel and express our emotions honestly in constructive ways that enrich our lives.
Constructive expression of our emotions is an enormous beneficial power in our personal growth and healing. We finally begin to see the value of our emotions and their importance to us. We learn to recognize when anger can be utilized as strength of self. We discover that allowing ourselves to feel pain and sorrow can be a path into healing the past. We begin to re-connect with the emotions of joy and love that were dammed up along with the anger and pain but which we never meant to leave behind. Our lives take on a richness and depth of experience that creates a feeling of heightened vibrancy which we bring to every moment. The past fades and our expectations for the future dissolve as we begin to enjoy living in the richness of the present.
Perfect emotional health and balance is an ideal that we will spend our entire lives working toward. It’s a lifelong process that requires patience and commitment to ourselves. It is unlikely that we’ll completely achieve the ideal before we die. We will, however, achieve a much greater understanding of ourselves and find joy in what we discover about who we are. I’m worth the effort it takes and the gifts of self I’ll gain along the way. So are you.
Owner of a web design company in South Africa - http://www.hosting-webdesign.co.za
Co-owner of The South African Health Portal - http://www.healing-health.co.za
Tags: emotion, emotionally, energy, health, pressure, water
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