I was watching a “Red Table Talk” last night (if you haven’t checked this out on FB, you should!) and the theme was being honest in your emotions. Something resonated with me, and I thought it might help you too!
From a young age, we are told to shove our emotions down. We tell toddlers to quit crying ALL THE TIME! We tell women to pick themselves up and move on after a break-up, and my least favorite: we tell boys they are acting like girls when they cry. What had to occur for our society to become so scared of emotions that we literally shame them?
When we are conditioned to put those emotions aside, we create a world full of angry adults that don’t know how to effectively communicate. It’s a recipe for disaster if we are being honest here. How do we break these generational curses? We TALK! We become completely honest with ourselves and those around us. We use empathy. We validate the feelings of those around us EVEN WHEN WE DONT AGREE! We allow our sons and daughters to cry and really feel those emotions.
Creating a dialog is the first step in the right direction. This is something I firmly believe in. I have childhood trauma that I don’t want my children to be saddled with. From the time that they could understand words, I have allowed Reaghen and Barrett to express their emotions freely. You’re upset with the punishment that you received? That is your right. You are pissed off about something that happened at school? Yes, you’re allowed to feel that. Whatever they are feeling is REAL to them! They are allowed to feel those emotions, just like we are.
The biggest takeaway from the video, for me, was LUV. Listen, understand, validate. We need to listen to each other. I mean, really listen. The kind of listening the morphs into understanding. And once we understand, we validate. We also have to have the ability to be receptive of the honesty from others. Let’s create a world that we are proud to hand to our children.
As always,
Stay strong mommas! ❤
Xoxox
Becca
Momma Tribe 