Ways in Expressing Our Emotions

Self-expression is defined as the expression of one’s feelings, thoughts, or ideas, for example, through artistic endeavors that one finds enjoyment in, such as writing, drawing, or dancing. This is where we transfer the energy building up from our thoughts and emotions into another form. Doing something that is not premeditated or scheduled, our mind and body will be more open and free-flowing. We learn to accept whatever that comes to our mind, it gives the voice we need, the voice we buried with our thoughts. This helps us with our growth as we move to pass the negativity in front of us. When we are more open to our feelings, being honest to our own thoughts, we will learn to accept and deal with them as understanding comes forward instead of denial.

Self-expression comes in many ways and all of us experience it differently. Some paint, some write, others perhaps, they use makeup or use clothing as the voice to express themselves. The magic is to find something that brings your heart closer to you.

What makes you feel at ease?

Home is where the heart is.

Journal Your Days

Start a Journal. Try writing down any feelings you have throughout the day. How do you feel? Are you happy or sad or just feel quite pissed off over something? Then ask yourself why? What happened? What triggered the emotions? Write all of that down. This is in a way, where you can remind yourself of the happy moments, the ones you would want to remember or to release the anger you came to carry today. This is where you dump your emotions. By writing them down, and re-reading them tomorrow or sometime in the future, you will be surprised by the trip down the memory lane, this brings yourself to another level of self-discovery. You will see that you have learned from your mistakes, and that made you a stronger person than before.

Art Therapy

Art has been used by many professionals in their therapy for self-expression and self-reflection. It speaks the emotions that we, the painters were experiencing at that time. Seeing how the end result comes about, as the creator, we will be able to have a sense of relief as it expressed the message that we have been dying to tell the world. Art acts as the voice, for those who have troubles in articulating verbally. It allows us to be free, one day after another, you see the canvas being filled up by splashes of paint or strokes done by markers. Layers after layers, it resembles a journey for the painters as they continued pouring out their feelings. As you finished the last layer of paint, you take a step back and see how the whole canvas came into view. You see how beautiful it is, the art you have created wholeheartedly, the message you have given out.

Dance Your Heart Out

Music always finds a way to sneak into our everyday life, it could be when we are watching a movie and then a soundtrack playing out in the background or as we are driving up to our workplace, a song being played out on the radio. We probably listen to one or two tracks in a day. That’s like the minimum amount of songs per day. I mean, who doesn’t like music? Music helps us in processing our minds depending on the situation and feelings. It stimulates our brain, our way of thinking. Listening to music helps us in making ourselves feel relax, releasing endorphins in the body. It doesn’t matter if you can’t sing or tune deaf, all of us, well most of us, like to sing the notes out, regardless. It makes us feel jolly, at the moment, like a happy pill. With music, there is movement. Dancing brings you to another level of happiness, improving your wellbeing to a higher level. Many people have two left feet, but that doesn’t stop them from dancing their hearts out! Let your body do the talking, let them flow along with the rhythm.

Finding your authentic self is never easy because we are always so tied up with the physical world. Though one of these days, we got to take a break and then take a deep breath. We will then slowly learn how to have a grasp of what’s really important. Expressing yourself is not just a task for the day, instead treat it as a learning phase for you to find your inner voice. Once everything seems to be more clearer, we will learn how to let go of unrealistic expectations and simply be content with ourselves.