The ability to be aware of and express one's feelings is an important emotional foundation. Often merely recognizing and expressing a feeling is enough to lessen it, control it, accept it, or shift one's attention away from it. The creative aspect of expressing a feeling is to tune in to exactly how the feeling "wants" to come through. Expressing a feeling is just another strategy to avoid the experience of feeling it directly.
In some Asian cultures, to express one's feelings is, in fact, seen as selfish and is highly discouraged. This reluctance to express one's feelings is actually a sign of maturity in Japan. It is thought that only selfish and immature people have to tell everyone how they are feeling. Talk about the difference in cultures.
In other parts of the world families that maintain healthy intimate relationships with each other are based on freedom to express one's feelings. It seems like the unwillingness or inability to express one's feelings is the downfall of a lot of family relationships and personal relationships; sometimes before they even get started.
Finding the ability to know and express one's feelings is important to survivors of trauma and abuse, and to people facing change. There is no doubt that having an opportunity to talk with someone, to express one's feelings, is a safeguard against loneliness, depression and isolation. To separate feelings of frustration from feelings of anger, and feelings of disappointment from loneliness aids in the process of getting a handle on being emotionally healthy. The more people use appropriate concepts to discuss anger will help them make distinctions among emotions, the more sensitive they can be to the complexity of life. Getting in touch with one's real feelings is obviously a worthwhile objective, and the ability to acknowledge and express one's feelings is clearly needed for a healthy life.
In this age where communication can be done through gadgets and the internet, the magic that letters can do to express one's feelings is an important vehicle. Having the words to express one's feelings is essential to discussion of those emotions. The importance of becoming more emotionally aware, including the ability to better recognize and express one's feelings is not limited to children. To become more emotionally aware is to become more emotionally mature and emotionally healthy.
Expressing feelings opens up a whole new world. People who understand their feelings have a way of coping with both positive and difficult situations. They feel more empathy for others and are better able to cooperate and to learn from them. Expressing these feelings sets the stage for a very deep level of learning and healing.
To express one's feelings is unquestioned in many psychotherapies and to express one's feelings is to give clues to one's feelings, and all sorts of utterances can do that. The ability to express one's feelings is of itself a great help, even if a solution to the problem is not found.
Sadly, it seems in our materialistic world, to express one's feelings is considered too sentimental or foolish. When a person believes that being able to express one's feelings is a healthy outlet and to express one's feelings is to reveal one's true nature, and to expose one's dreams and ideals to others is not at risk to lose them.
Inability to express one's feelings is one facet of emotional immaturity. Ways to express one's feelings is very important and counter to the depressive's tendency to suppress feeling. Not having feelings is an unhealthy response to situations.
Indeed, being able to express one's feelings is essential to well-being and it is something and as with most human learning is acquired through social interaction. To express one's feelings is definitely a learned thing. To learn it, you have to be taught.
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