Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Language of Feelings

“One of my problems is that I internalize everything. I can’t express anger. I grow a tumor instead.”
Woody Allen


Well....Should we laugh or cry about this one?

Given my male gender status, I can only speak with any authority as a man and even then, really only for this man. One of my coaches in life is Tom Lutes who has taught me that in addition to our first or even second language, we also have an emotional language. For most men (that’s a sneaky way of saying ‘for me’) one or more of our emotional languages are, let us say, less developed.

I’m kind of fluent in expressing joy, sadness and fear. Anger is where I am somewhat or mostly illiterate. I haven’t grown a tumor but I have experienced some needless stress and some “incomplete” relationships as a result.

As a society it seems to me that we are moving in a positive direction in regard to further developing and responsibly expressing our feelings. The benefits are enormous and, if you’re interested in joining me in accelerating the journey toward greater “feelings fluency,” come and do our Extraordinary Living Seminar January 9-11in Denver, Colorado. For details go to www.ExtraordinarySeminar.com.

With love and respect,

Robert

2 comments:

jim said...

“One of my problems is that I internalize everything. I can’t express anger. I grow a tumor instead.”
Woody Allen

Woody may have been joking.

Personal experience tells me that this quote is spot on.

Jim

Robert White said...

Jim ... while the world accuses us of cynicism or worse, we know how "stuffing it" really feels!