The way our body feels and the associated emotional states are a guide to deeper awareness. We are biologically wired for social engagement, evolved to connect for safety, cultivation and sensemaking. Lifelong emotional balance is learned naturally in early childhood through a process known as co-regulation.
Our emotions, if we embrace them through mindful practice, will always help us. They are nature’s power-tools for dealing with the ups and downs of life. They’re our best friend who always turns up to the co-regulation party, like a benevolent genie, just to say “hi, how are you doing?” Whenever they do, they’re just answering a subconscious cry for help from our nervous system and our response should be: “thanks for coming. Now that you’re here, let’s do this together!”