The word emotion comes from the Latin verb "emovo" which means to move out of. Emotions and feelings are two words which we often use interchangeably. A friend of mine gave me a definition of these words which I find extremely helpful. "A feeling is an awareness and an emotion is the quality of energy generated by that awareness."

For example, when you walk down a dark alley late at night and feel fear, fear is the quality of energy generated by an awareness that the alley may not be safe. When you are told to pay attention to your emotions or feelings, what is meant is to pay attention to the awareness behind the emotion.

Emotions never lie and are never wrong. NO ONE has a right to say to you that you should not feel the way you do. The awareness behind the emotion comes from your Subconscious which knows only truth. Your emotions can be a source of information (actually they ARE a source of information; you CAN avail yourself of this source if you so choose.) So emotions are energies which begin as an awareness and move out of us from our inner Selves.

Intuition, hunches, gut feelings, psychic ability and sixth sense are all names which we give to these awarenesses when we are not distracted by the emotion generated by them. In the Age of Aquarius we are developing our intuitive abilities, our sixth sense. The road to this development lies through our emotions. Unfortunately, most of us are taught to ignore or suppress our emotions. We are taught that they are bad and are not displayed (acknowledged) by mature men and women. Hogwash! That is just what we are told when someone is trying to control our behavior.

Emotions are the key to getting in touch with our Inner Selves and developing our sixth sense. To be complete and whole within ourselves, we must allow ourselves to release all of the old emotional energy stored within our Emotional Bodies and to express in the moment the emotional energy generated by our awarenesses. This allows us to be in the flow of energy and to be cognizant of our awarenesses (intuitions.) Don't expect emotion to be rational. It isn't. Emotion and logic are like apples and nails. They are two entirely different things.

Many psychic and intuitive people whom I have known are what I call "feeling" people. They go with the flow of feeling or emotional energy. They are not attached to the emotion, but allow themselves to acknowledge, experience or feel the energy in the moment and then let it go.

Many of us have been experiencing strong emotions the last few years. We have been experiencing situations which call up extreme emotions, some of which are generated by happenings long since past and forgotten. In the attempt to bring our Inner Selves into our outer Consciousness, we must first clear out our emotional baggage. The Emotional Level is the buffer between our Intuitive Level and our Conscious Minds. When we have emptied our Emotional Bodies of old emotion, then we have a much clearer access to the Truth stored within our Intuitive Levels.

By the time we reach adulthood, most of us have much "emotional sludge" which we have never expressed or "dealt" with. We are undergoing situations in our lives now which are giving us the opportunity to release much repressed emotional energy. This is pure energy and often any relation to the original triggering event or awareness is long gone. We react to something all out of proportion to the current situation. The purpose of this is to let go of this old energy and get on with our lives.

For the most part we do not have to "deal" with the original trauma. All we have to do is release the stored up energy. But for most of us we need some kind of ritual. We seek counseling or therapy, we take drugs, or attend New Age seminars to find that magic which will allow us to feel better. So save yourself time and money and give yourself your own ritual.

Lead yourself through a guided meditation or visualization. Some suggested visuals might be: To see a ball of energy gradually grow in the area of your Solar Plexus and then throw it away from you, feeling a release of emotional energy as you do so. See yourself as a young child crying and gradually relaxing until all of the anger, hurt, etc. is gone; and then repeating it at ever increasing ages until you are at your current age. Imagine a siphon going from your belly button down into the Earth siphoning off all excess emotional energy. Rent several sad videos and cry as you watch them. Take a deep breath and on the exhalation feel emotional energy flow out of you; repeat as often as is necessary. Or invent something which will work for you. I'm sure you have gotten the picture. I have faith in you!

You can also rent several funny videos and laugh til you cry. Laughter is very healing. When we laugh we break up old energy and habit patterns onto which we have been holding. Once broken up the energy can flow in the new directions which we have created. We ALWAYS feel better after we laugh. This may be the lazy person's way to health and enlightenment, but it works. And who says it has to be hard?

Okay, now you have gotten rid of all that old emotional energy and are as open as a new born babe. Don't assume your work is done. We naturally fall back into old habit patterns UNLESS we make the Conscious choice and take the determined action to create new habits. Habits are the thought patterns and attitudes we create to direct the flow of energy through us. What you do now is to give yourself permission to feel all the emotion in the moment in which it is generated. After a while you will notice you are no longer so caught up in the emotional quality of the energy and can now look beyond the emotion to the awareness behind it. You now have both feet on the path to becoming psychic. Co-incidentally you will notice that you are becoming healthier and happier.

Anger is a misunderstood emotion. Actually it is not an emotion at all. Anger is a rapid, often sudden, and powerful release of pent up emotional energy. You must realize that you are not "angry" at whatever or whoever triggered the release. It or they merely got in the way when the straw that broke your emotional dam was placed upon you. Very seldom are we angry at the person at whom anger is directed. We will save ourselves much distress and many friendships if we allow ourselves to blow up but do not direct the anger at anybody. And then apologize and explain that you were just blowing off steam and are not mad at them.

I know I always feel better after a good "mad". Allow the energy to flow out of you. Do not be upset with yourself for being angry (or feeling any emotion, for that matter, either "good" or "bad"), that merely begins the buildup all over again. Also don't be upset if someone else is angry, even if at you. Bless and allow their release and know that the reaction is probably out of all proportion to the actual triggering event.

If you are the person who is in the way when someone vents their spleen, remember not to take it personally. Don't laugh, but do allow the other person to release their pent up emotional energy. Once the anger has been expressed, let it be. Go back to acting natural. Several years ago I supervised five other insurance underwriters. A woman who was particularly intelligent and good in her work burst into my office one day and said that she was upset and angry that, while she had gotten a very good job performance review, she had gotten such a small raise. I knew the reason she was angry was because she felt hurt and frustrated and her ego had suffered a bruise. I also knew that it had nothing to do with me. So I let her talk. Then I calmly told her that I agreed with her and explained that I had given her the largest raise possible according to Personnel Department limitations. I took her valid feelings and complaints seriously, did not take her anger personally, and went on as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. (Inwardly, however, I had to smile as I remembered a time ten years earlier when I had done the same exact thing to my boss. Oh, how it comes around!)