When we are little children and people tell us that we shouldn’t be the way we are, we begin to repress the expression of our authentic self. We repress our integrity, our own emotional body. We practice hiding our emotions and pretending that we don’t feel them. When we feel ashamed of our emotions, we begin to justify and explain and judge our emotions. We believe in so many lies that we no longer express the beautiful emotion of love. 

Don Miguel Ruiz — The Voice of Knowledge (p. 113)

I don’t know how old I was when I first heard it—and I’m assuming many of you have heard it, too—but at some point I was told to stop crying or I’ll give you something to really cry about. I think it’s safe to say that’s around the time I started repressing my emotions.

Boys don’t cry!

Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about!

Don’t be such a sissy!

Our authentic selves were inside us from the very beginning; yet we learned to repress them because our caregivers, siblings, authorities, and friends demanded we keep that part to ourselves. The unspoken message was to fit in at all costs, obey, be a good boy or girl, eat your vegetables, don’t speak unless spoken to, and by all means never let them see you cry.

I have been tapping into that long-forgotten emotional side of myself lately and it’s actually quite refreshing. By allowing that part of me to express itself, it has been amazing to see and hear what has been desperately lacking all these years. It feels as if another whole part of me has been longing to reemerge and share its treasures with the world.

I hope you are able to gain back some of those repressed parts of yourself that are truly valuable and could be a great benefit to yourself and to the world.

Have a blessed day.

Peace and Love,

~Travis