1,087 thoughts on “Catharsis –– Healing or Harming?”

1. Most of humanity are on the roller coaster ride of life allowing emotions to run and in some cases ruin them, I am less and less on this up and down journey because I am allowing my true self to lead the way rather then getting lost in illusion.

2. So many of us believe that it is our emotions that make us who we are and that we are very little without them, but this addiction is simply a distraction from connecting to and living from the foundation of who we are.

3. In my spiritual days I attended many courses where catharsis was supposed to be the thing that healed. Not in my experience – I found it emotionally draining and never got to where ‘they’ wanted me to go. What a blessing to have discovered the Ageless Wisdom teachings this life and let go of all that nonsense. I have experienced true healing since becoming a Universal medicine student.

   1. In the past I also attended courses where catharsis was considered a base for healing, but in my experience these courses never brought any healing.

4. Living in a subdued emotional turmoil would be how I would describe my existence before Universal Medicine so thank you Joan, I now have a deeper understanding of how much we can be subliminally influenced and not understand how to get out of the mess we were in before the presentation by Serge Benhayon.

5. My god, 13 years of psychotherapy and re-living past experiences. The things we put ourselves through because of lack of awareness, we can be lied to and think that we are healing ourselves but without the real connection with our hearts there is no real discernment whether something is true or not.

6. Is it possible that the excess emotions in our bodies is why as a culture we like drama, the theater and entertainment so much? Perhaps we are drowning so much in it that we need a let-out, and therefore we go to the theater for a good cry & create little dramas in our life so that we have the right to explore and let some of it out.. but that doesn’t lead anywhere, does it?

7. We all have our own versions of low self-worth, we play various games to get attention and feel like we are valued. We may think we are different, but underneath it all it’s all the same.

8. “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves”, Joan this is an absolutely priceless piece of information.

9. I think that the concept of ‘purging our emotions’ is a false one. In fact I would go so far as to say that when we are emotional, rather than this getting rid of the emotion, the act of being emotional guarantees that more emotion will follow.

   1. I agree with you Alexis. I never found any of my spiritual healing courses that encouraged catharsis to be of any value at all.

   2. Yes Alexis, when we are emotional, we are allowing more emotions to flow through us, not healing ourselves in any way.

10. Thanks for sharing your story Joan, I have come across the idea of catharsis through reliving emotions before but didn’t realise where it came from, I was interested to see the link to Aristotle and Freud. I can see the foundation of such a philosophy doesn’t hold people as divine or as souls, but identifies them with their emotional experiences without discerning the quality of energy that the person is experiencing. We know Jesus was a great teacher and some of his truths remain untainted such as “The Kingdom of God is inside you”, which is much more than reducing human life to the rehashing of emotions, and directs us to our divinity within.

11. “I would enjoy the buzz it gave me, feel “fantastic” but then mostly end up drained afterwards, so then I would seek more of the same.” An accurate description of addiction to any poison to the body.

12. ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.’ Your experience and wisdom is gold. I’m studying counselling and nothing I’ve come across is so wise and clear.

13. I used to have emotional highs and lows and although I didn’t enjoy the lows, the thought that being on an even keel would feel boring. How wrong I was. I love the steadiness I now feel and am more open and able to give and receive love than ever before.

14. Agreed Doug, it shows that we don’t have to carry those labels with us for life but can choose to change how we go about life to enjoy life to its full and inspire many others in the process.

15. I too remember being in a roller coaster with my moods, yo-yoing up and down. The steadiness I now feel, thanks to Serge Benhayon and the Universal Medicine modalities, I would never have hoped was possible twenty years ago.

16. Being on an emotional roller coaster can offer moments of relief or feed our identification in some way and yet do nothing in allowing us to acknowledge the original feeling or reaction that we had avoided in the first place.

17. Emotional drama is both intoxicating and stimulating but as you have so honestly shared Joan is ultimately unhealthy for our bodies and well-being.

    1. The feeling of steadiness I now feel is a beautiful way of living.

18. Fascinating what you share about Psychotherapy’s influence by Aristotle.

19. “The one thing I can trust is my inner essence” Absolutely and it is something that we never stop learning

20. Gorgeous Elizabeth, I love your wisdom. This is something we can all learn from, that indulging in any emotional issue will take us further away from truth.

21. When we live from and for the drama of life we are in fact living in our own bubble which we take to and engage with the world. Therefore we not truly living in the world and meeting people for who they are.

22. The word catharsis comes from the Greek word ‘katharizein’ which means to make clean and ‘katharos’ meaning pure. It is not the word catharsis that is evil (void of truth) but more so the meaning we attach to it when we think it is about having an emotional experience/indulgence that has little to do with cleansing and everything to do with adding more poison to the tank, so to speak. A true cleansing and purifying comes from the simple act of reconnecting to our Soul and letting this love be our guiding light through life in a very real and human way.

    1. Thank you Liane for the true meaning of catharsis – yet another bastardisation and mis-interpretation of a word that is healing and evolutionary.

    2. Beautiful Liane. ‘Reconnecting to our soul’ – simple and loving.

23. How informative, I studied psychology for four years and have been very interested in what goes on underneath the surface, why do people behave in the ways they do. I always thought that Freud was a bit crazy, and all of his theories are too out there – but it makes sense, we can only teach what we live and perhaps that’s exactly what happened in his case.

    1. There are many ways we think we should live but only one way that can truly be lived if we want to evolve. This evolution is not being bigger and better; it is simply about reconnecting back to our innermost self (soul) and allowing this essence to express forth in all our daily deeds. This way of life is not prescribed by an outer doctrine but is informed by the inner heart and all the love and wisdom contained therein.

24. Could it be that as a society we’re so overstimulated and overloaded with information and noise that we switch off, and then crave feeling some kind of emotion to make us feel more alive? Most of us are familiar with this roller-coaster existence; trying to find ways to create excitement among the mundane. Eventually it starts to feel like nothing on the outside quite cuts it, and the only way to ease the tension we feel is to go within. To start to connect to all that we can feel, including the tension to start with, but also the sense of space, and all that we really are, underneath that surface layer.

    1. Most TV shows and movies are emotional rollercoasters and entertainment is based on what Joan talks about, experiencing emotions of some kind which can be very stimulating.

25. This just goes to show we can have an addiction to anything .. even drama!! I can really relate with what you have shared regarding emotions as when I was younger I felt being ’emotional’ was the way!!! As crazy as it sounds because if I showed emotion then that meant I cared. But it was exhausting and as you share incredibly draining. Years ago when attending a workshop with Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon it was mentioned that ‘there is not an once of emotion in love’. This woke me up and not only could I feel it was a truth it was also a relief as it then gave me permission to just be – I did not have to be or prove or try to love or show that I cared through emotion. Since then I have not looked back and have felt a lot clearer within myself and all other relationships.

26. The more emotional that we are the less we heal anything.

27. ‘I know that just being me by trusting my inner essence and living my life every day in consistency brings a lasting healing.’ Very true Joan, it is when we get caught up in creating drama in our lives that we leave our essence and as a result we harm ourselves and others.

    1. All drama bar none is completely fabricated by us. There is no truth in it whatsoever, it is literally just stuff and nonsense that we conjure up purely as part of our arsenal of delay tactics. We have so many different variations on delay but they all basically do the same thing and that is to delay our return to being the almighty truth that we already are. It’s simple, if we didn’t constantly invest in not being the truth of who we already are then we would simply be the living truth and that quite simply is that.

28. What I can feel is how we make use of anything to be and feel an individual, whatever turns us on, and be recognized by. Recently I had a few moments where I was able to observe what was going on and sensed how there was almost like a switch waiting to be flicked to let emotion run if I chose to, and it was looking very enticing and sticky. Once in that drama, I would become that, and oh how so appealing that once used to be, it was ‘my’ world.

29. ‘I know that just being me by trusting my inner essence and living my life every day in consistency brings a lasting healing.’ Beautifully said Joan, when we connect and live from our essence we offer the body a way to truly heal.

30. Like you Joan, I was always looking for the “solutions to the problems inside me, yet mostly I was seeking outside me rather than from my own inner source.” It’s rather crazy when you see it written so clearly that we choose to look outside of ourselves for the answers when the problems are within. It has been literally life saving to finally know that I am a source of amazing wisdom but if I still find myself stuck sometimes there is always support from those who are also students of Universal Medicine as I discover the answers for myself.

31. “I would have an emotional reaction to any feelings that surfaced in order to protect myself further from the pain…” This feels very freeing to know we don’t have to be emotional to be real, alive etc. as it is just an distraction and delay of what we are truly feeling in our bodies.

32. When we cathart we spend a huge amount of energy and we would be quite tired afterwards with little energy for further problems. We can label that as a success until we recover …

33. If we get attention we pay attention to what works and take note and use it (extensively) until we realize that we were not paying attention to the harm we got from what ‘worked’ for us.

34. Catharsis reinforces some of our worse tendencies and we mistake the resulting exhaustion as peace. At times it can be an unburdening but there are other ways that work better – understanding what is happening being one of them.

    1. Ts a really good point about the unburdening, that we can unload our experiences n conversation but not truly heal them, only experience relief.

35. I can relate to your drama queenitis Joan but can honestly say I am still mastering that wiley part of me that loves being a public as well as a private drama queen.

36. It is so great reading all of these examples of what emotions are over feelings.

37. We are most certainly addicted. I know I have been and still are to a certain extent. I notice the kick I get out of it.

    1. Yes, it is a kick but even that word shows how harsh it feels.

38. This is so awesome I love what you have shared about the influence of Aristotle rather than the ageless wisdom lineage of Plato. So interesting.

39. This blog helped me have a revelation about my own use of drama in my life. For as long as I can remember, I have re-enacted different events in my life that were emotionally charged or disturbing to me in a way that I felt hurt, and have actually physically re-lived it through body movements and the tone of my voice when describing the situation to other people. I realise now just how harming this has been for not only my own body, but everyone around me when I went into this dramatic re-enactment. No wonder my partner never liked it when I would do this, as the yucky emotional energy of the situation that I aligned to in the act came right back through me to her too! It feels like a great opportunity to let go of this pattern. Thank you Joan for sharing your experience!

    1. Absolutely the leaking of all this horrible hyped up – often victim energy is what fuels the world to keep going around and around as it does, further deepening and entrenching us in harmful activity.

    2. Thanks for sharing this Michael, it’s a practical example of how we rehash emotions, sometimes in our own thoughts, and other times in conversation.

40. Going into the drama is just another way of masking over what we do not want to look at in our lives.

41. ‘I needed an audience to feel good about myself.’ I can relate to this even though I also wanted to keep hidden – now there’s a great source of conflict and drama just in that! There’s an emptiness felt beneath any attention gained and a drive to keep the attention going – even if that’s the attention of just one person. Learning to love myself and appreciate me for being me is what brings me a consistency of presence that I then bring to others.

    1. Yes, but needing that audience means even ‘feeling good about myself’ was never enough as insecurity kept creeping in as well.

42. This feels like the solution to climate change. Less hot air being steamed off the human beings by lessening or removing out addiction to the highs and lows of emotional living.

43. There is not one ounce of emotion in True Love or Joy. Once we have experienced the real thing it becomes very clear and even at first shocking to experience how AWFUL emotions feel and the harm and abuse we cause ourselves with them. We have sold ourselves a huge lie with our addiction to emotions and completely bastardised our language and words as is shared here: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia

44. This is fascinating Joan the link you make here between Aristotle and Freud and psychotherapy – I did not know this before. It makes sense to me that if we indulge in and focus on our emotions as a form of therapy or entertainment we are merely relieving ourselves of an inner build up of tension no different to alcohol or drugs but not dealing with the underlying cause of the emotions being there in the first place.

45. When we live in fear of ‘getting it wrong’ we allow ourselves to become crippled by the belief we have to get it ‘right’ because it stops us from living what is true. In-truth there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, only what is true and what is not and thus our inclination to lean toward either side of the equation at any given point in time.

46. Being buffeted and controlled by emotions is exhausting, but when we choose to feel the messages from within our own body, we have a marker that gently tells us the truth.

47. Fascinating the part of Aristotle in the way of modern therapy and understanding of going into the story and drama of our lives being the way to heal. When I haven’t met anyone who has truly healed in this way only found ways to function better.

48. Life is very simple when we don’t allow dramas. The question is – are we willing to live a simple life?

    1. Life indeed becomes very simple, if dramas are not let it. If we, as Joan states, continually observe the quality of our body, letting the feelings surface and then choosing not to indulge in any emotions that arise in reaction to thee, then drama stays out. And yes then life becomes very simple: a deep connection with ourselves through our body.

49. Actually you can say that looking for emotions is a distraction from going deeper into what life in truth is asking us to learn and heal. And by choosing emotions, which instead does not heals anything, we bury the hurts we have incurred by living this physical life deeper and deeper in the body, which in turn will clear what does not belongs through illness and disease.

50. A lot of people are addicted to having drama in their life and it is often challenging to face the fact that we would prefer drama over harmony. Eliminate drama and we are left to deal with anything that is unresolved within us and that is what we avoid by constantly creating drama.

    1. Drama is like an energetic crocodile roll, simply us thrashing around on the spot.

51. ” An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves. ” This is a huge learning thank you for sharing Joan.

    1. Spot on John, I had chosen to make a similar comment and that emotions create such a false sense of what is important, real or true through the drama that is experienced.

       1. There is no truth in emotion because by their very nature they are all false. There are no emotions in the inner heart, even happiness is a very tinny and inferior imposter to joy.

    2. Although I felt I had a good grasp of the difference between emotions and feelings, I don’t feel I ever really put together their relationship like Joan has here, in that we use those dramas and emotions to mask or suppress the feeling that is there to feel and learn from, perhaps because we don’t want to look at our choices that lead to the situation. This is a real revelation and something I am looking forward to working with more when I feel myself slipping into emotional reactions.

52. I love the honesty of what is shared here, and this encapsulates what emotions are so clearly ‘ … An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.’ … so any reactions fall in here too, and of course we avoid feeling and accepting that feeling. This understanding will totally change so much of our counseling and therapies over time, and allow us to come back to a clearer, simpler way of how we can live.

53. What you have exposed here is the very understanding we need when treating all addictions and emotional issues. Without it it is like treating the issue with band aides in the hope it heals without truly addressing the root cause of the matter.

54. Through my study with Universal Medicine, I have come to understand that everything I ever need is within me and how to access that wisdom is how we live each day – do we live in contraction, in hiding, in protection and keeping the world out, ( my old life!) or do we live in a way that we fully express and share ourselves and let others in? Connection with oneself and then all others is how we access all that we are.

55. Great article and this, “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” is so true. We can’t live from emotions they just keep us on an endless loop of playing. I remember how this looked for me and the ’emotional rollercoaster’ as it’s called was ageing and closing me down quickly. It’s a great way to look at any emotion or reaction, a point that is there from which there is something you are not willing to truly feel. The fact is at this point or moment you need not do anything else but simply be, in other words called a stop to the emotion and let you body truly go. Bring awareness to what you are truly feeling and as you can give it a voice. I have found this extremely helpful and settling and it’s not something I did, it’s now the way that I am.

56. Joan I have learnt not to go into those emotions that you speak of. I have seen others do so as well and it just serves to make one live through this emotional pain over and over. It is not until we give up on the drama and take back being responsible for our lives that we grow.

57. I agree Joan living trying to get everything right is exhausting and no fun! So much more wonderful to be in your body feeling the lovely yumminess that is our essence and living from there.

58. Incredible to read Joan. It’s a simple science we all need to know – the difference between emotions and feelings and, emotions cause illness and disease.
    It was one of the simplest first truths I heard – emotions are a reaction to our feelings. It’s a great known principle of the Ageless Wisdom that will change Medicine as we know it today.

59. How much of the feeling better after a catharsis is simply due to us being tired afterwards and is there a permanent healing from catharsis? In my experience it just reinforces what we don’t want there to be.

60. It is a human trait to use drama and the tension it creates in order to feel ‘alive’ because we have overridden our true source of vitality, which is to live from our hearts and all the love that lives therein.

61. It is very beautiful to start feeling again or more so to allow oneself to start to feel again. As oppose to emotions to feel allows for the fullness of oneself to be. I would describe it as a deep settling in one’s own body which gives space to observe and compassion.

    1. Yes, that experience is quite undramatic but lasting.

62. “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” I agree Joan. It is an escape which in truth is simply absolute irresponsibility. By indulging in emotions and seeking catharsis we keep ourselves in the comfort of not having to step up. We can say to our selves we already are stepping up because we’re dealing with our issues when in reality we are just recycling them round and round in our bodies.

63. I used to think talking and talking about my issues, hurts etc was really helpful, I used to like a glass of wine with it as we’ll….both habits have fallen by the wayside as I realise I was perpetuating behaviours, not shifting anything. I share honestly, but I am certainly not feel sorry for myself and I make choices to shift what is not working rather than keep circling the issue.

64. What strikes me when reading your words Joan is that we not only made emotions and drama part of our lives, we have made it our entertainment and with that are letting everything revolve around emotions. So we keep ourselves constantly busy with emotions with never a chance to be still with(in) ourselves.

    1. Great point Esther. What better way to keep ourselves entertained than to constantly fuel dramas and emotions to keep them alive in us. All the while hiding the truth from ourselves – that we are magnificent and divine.

       1. Yes, and with that we are missing out big time on the beauty that is around us all the time and especially in and with each other.

65. Emotions can be a wonderful place to hide in – there can be an illusion of feeling “alive” as everything is colourful and eventful. Emotions are a distraction from life and keep us on a roller coaster ride – which can be exhilarating. Living with the steadiness of simplicity can seem boring from the outside but it is only when you give it a go that you realise the joy in living this way.

66. If the true meaning of Cathar was universal man, and if it comes from the same Greek root than catharsis, things do not add up if we are speaking of emotional purging. Could be that catharsis is not about that but to live in a way that discards anything that does not allow you to live and reflect your universality (e.g., emotions)? If so, this would another example of how we engage in some actions based on the accepted meaning of words, that are harming to us.

    1. Love the truth in word Eduardo and what a beautiful way of looking at Catharsis – to live in a way that discards what is not true. It is the way we live that addresses what is not true purely because the solidness in that does not allow for what is not true – what is not true cannot coexist with truth.

    2. Beautiful. It shows that the origin/truth is there, it is just that we have turned it into something else.

67. I’ve been through living the whole emotional drama… wondering why, being a bit confused, but gradually realising that it is something that gives us intense false feelings that we feed off. Its weird because as a young boy/man life felt very very simple, and that is exactly how it can be if we allow it, and if we live it.

68. “always thinking it was the end of the world if the slightest mistake was made, mine or anybody else’s.” I can so relate to this. It’s incredible how much I would fly off the handle at anything and everything, drama for me kept me going and whilst today my addiction has faded it still rears itself when I choose complexity over simplicity.

    1. Same here DN, perfectionism is a huge shadow on us that needs to be constantly exposed by the light of our love.

69. Letting go of patterns we have relied on to manage life, not only free us from the shackles of the illusion but also allows space for a deeper connection with that which is of truth within our bodies.

70. We can easily see drama for what it is, when other people play it out. When they enter into a huge speech or outrageous outburst, it might even be hard to restrain ourselves from laughing out loud. But contrast this when it is us, whom are the ones ‘acting up’ and then our story and intrigue seems ‘so real’. Thank God then, that we have other people around to show us this is not true, and that the key thing to know is simply that the drama drug has got a hold of you. Thank you Joan for inspiring me to finally kick my habit. This indulgence in emotion isn’t the kind of play for which this beautiful man was made.

71. It is very interesting how we often seek emotional attraction in artistic expression and/or entertainment, and how we resonate with and get hooked by it. The Internet is also full of such snippets feeding that constantly.

72. “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.”
    I have often used emotions for relief when the deeper issue is too difficult for me to face, its almost like creating a diversion so as I can avoid the deeper more painful reason I am feeling something.

73. How liberating it is when we stop the drama and stop the game playing. We are free to be who we are, to allow the truth of a connection with another and be in the joy of that.

74. Although not a thespian myself I too have been addicted to drama for most of my life. This has gone hand in hand with being in a constant state of emotional overwhelm, and half the time they were not even my own emotions, I was taking on everyone else’s as well! Be that through situations, conversations, music, art etc. I was absolutely filled to the brim of these things. Through a process similar to what you are describing here Joan, I have come to realise that absorbing the emotions of others is a poison to the body that if not dealt with will seek to be vented – which explains my emotional outbursts I was so frequently prone to. Fortunately the antidote to all this is LOVE. True love is not an emotion but a light that lives deep in the core of our being and is designed to be expressed out through our every pore, if we so allow it.

75. This is such an apt article for me – I can really feel my addiction to drama in the past and still get big waves of it when I don’t choose to be with myself. I so thought that cathartic experiences were the way but like you I also did years ‘of therapy and re-living my past through re-experiencing it emotionally changed nothing; it just buried my feelings deeper in my body.’ Reading this I can now feel how the burying really was a part of it all and I could not understand why, when I was doing therapy all right, that I still got bothered by the smallest things. Today I still can get bothered but I respond by reconnecting with my body and feeling what is really going on – am I attempting to avoid how amazing I am?! I am uncovering the beliefs I’ve had, the emotions I’ve buried that I identified as me but is just energy I’ve consumed in some way. So there is less having to purge myself of these emotions through cathartic motions, just a simple coming back to being me and accepting how lovely I am and that this never changes, though my choices haven’t always honoured myself so.

76. Having a ‘stiff upper lip’ isn’t healthy and nor is indulging in our emotions! But it is possible for us to be aware of what we’re feeling emotionally – to observe it and recognise what is it showing us so that we can truly resolve what is there, without drama, and with that deepen the love that we bring to life instead.

77. When you consider that everything we express as a quality of energy we magnify throughout the body, it really exposes the harm that emotion and catharsis propagates. It makes us sick and pollutes the environment.

78. Living in the emotion of life is reflected everywhere around us and it is a big momentum to break free from. I can feel how I have taken on many pictures that I measure myself against and this does not truly support me. However, when I connect to my essence I can feel a grace and simplicity with which to approach things. It is trusting and staying with this that is the key.

79. I have been in situations where ‘catharsis’ was required and I could never come up with anything – if I had I would have been making it up. But I have been a drama queen. The literary scene that I inhabited for large part of my adult life was full of drama queens (both genders) and story -tellers, so I felt I and to join it to belong. What a terrible club that was!!

80. I used to think it was necessary for healing to go through a cathartic experience and it was encouraged and facilitated in the various new age workshops I went to. If you didn’t partake you were holding back and resisting healing.
    The truth is there is no true healing in catharsis, just the relief of an emotional buildup, ready for more to accumulate and the same pattern underlying it to carry on. Healing does not require this… merely the nomination of an ill-pattern and all it contains, the release of this energy (which may involve some short-lived emotion) and a connection to the truth that was once left. Simple, clean and done.

    1. Ah Jenny, your comment just brought back some bad memories about some of the cathartic experiences I witnessed in similar new age courses. Emotions gone wild with no healing in sight. As you say healing doesn’t require catharsis, we simply need to be honest and express what we feel without all the fan fare.

       1. Yes exactly Victoria, I have actually seen someone go into psychosis on two occasions as a result of letting themselves go to the intense emotions that were facilitated. The responsibility of practitioners of any sort under these circumstances is very high, and it is no wonder the medical profession do not endorse the spiritual new age. I am in total agreement with them on this front, having seen the harm that can come to those who are undiscerning.

       2. Agree Jenny, there is an energetic responsibility we all have in this regard.

       3. This feels so irresponsible and I know I have been involved in extreme therapies as a patient and felt how unnerving the encouragement and techniques were. It has also resulted in people being weary of any mention of energy so people avoid what is actually there to feel and discern in order to heal.

81. “Thirteen years of therapy and re-living my past through re-experiencing it emotionally changed nothing; it just buried my feelings deeper in my body”. For 15 years I was a kinesiology therapist and believed I was bringing about healing. However, after experiencing true healing at a Universal Medicine Sacred Esoteric Healing Level 1 course I realised that what I was doing on a physical level was a no different to an emotional cathartic experience -burying the root cause of the problem deeper into the body.

82. Cathartic experiences give short-term fixes but resolve nothing in the long-term.

83. I have just been writing an article on Shakespeare’s Othello and the whole play is full of turbulent emotion, jealousy, prejudice, and deception. This is why it is called ‘The Tragedy of Othello, moor of Venice’. When we get caught in the turbulent emotional roller coaster it is indeed a tragedy and there is no saving grace – everyone loses.

    1. How true Lyndy that everybody loses in emotional drama of any sort. It is quite strange then that a lot of so called entertainment is based on drama, emotional turmoil, sensationalism, abuse and conflict. This simply adds to the unease.

       1. Totally agree Victoria. Most entertainment (which we look to to quell the unease) actually adds to the unease. It is a ‘comfort’ for us to see that others are having problems and ‘suffering’ too. And hence we can say; “Oh well, that is what life is’ – when it isn’t! The beauty of the way that Shakespeare presents ‘drama’ is that it is from the observer position and so highlights the folly, the illusion of our habitual reactive behaviour – spread there before our very eyes if we are willing to see.

84. “I needed an audience to feel good about myself.” This is the cause of the outplay of our abuse of social media, we need an audience to feel good about ourselves.

85. Oh Joan I very much relate, as I was so controlled with my emotions and indulged in the drama. That is long gone I am happy to say, as I prefer a simple life, my commitment to life has deepened and all my relationships have improved now that I love and appreciate myself and all I bring. This did not happen over night, I had lots of deep issues to clear and heal, and thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, for their amazing courses and presentations which have been super supportive to heal my past.

86. I think what is so exposing is that looking at and ‘dealing’ with our issues by focusing on them only supports us to become completely identified with them as if they are the sum total of us, whereas we are actually divine and that divinity cannot be touched by the traumas of life, but what we do by focussing on them is what we feel is a form of protection but the inner heart does not need any protection.

87. “Thirteen years of therapy and re-living my past through re-experiencing it emotionally changed nothing; it just buried my feelings deeper in my body”. This is a profound realisation and has a huge impact on the way we do counselling and psych-therapy. We currently do not realise that going over and over our issues without clearing it from the body just cements them and our identity with them even more.

88. I wonder how many people would be drawn to acting or being a musician if they could feel this desire comes from a need of appreciation and affirmation; that I needed an audience to feel good about myself. It doesn’t sound quite so glamorous anymore!

89. Thank you for sharing so honestly Joan! I agree that to continually rehash events and situations that are emotional and dramatic only drains us and we continue to do this time and again to our detriment.!

90. The world of addictions is a vast one. We tend to reduce it to the obvious: alcohol, smoking, drugs, etc. But it goes well beyond this. We can become addicted to anything and everything. The question is why? And why is that common and easy? It is only because we are all addicted to creation as a way to avoid feeling the energetic truth in our bodies. We all know addiction. How we counter feeling what we do not want to feel is up to each one of us.

91. It was liberating for me to understand that emotions have no place in a truly well and healthy body, without saying that we should never have them. But to understand that they are the cause of all disharmony within the body and that by nature we are absolutely still and harmonious, was a revelation to me. Today I know it to be true from the way I feel in myself when I am free of emotion, to when I am reacting to something and have become emotional in some way. The two states are like chalk and cheese, and the latter is distinctly disturbing and draining.

92. It is interesting how you say you got attention by creating the drama. That alone shows how loving it is to not pander to such dramatic escapades. When we create drama, it is a creation, it is not real. Holding someone to the truth of who they are is indeed a loving act.

    1. So true, taking a moment to not buy into the drama of a situation but to listen, feel and discern what response is needed from you – if any – is a great support to the other person because it offers a reflection that has the potential to stop the momentum. Said in deep appreciation for all the reflections in my life!!!

93. The cathartic sensation people get from being a drama queen and indulging in the emotional extravaganza it entails only serves to feed the roller coaster that can go in one direction only – a vicious circle.

94. What we align with, we will get more of. Love or lovelessness (emotion)? It is our own choice.

95. When we surrender to life, we are saying: I trust you life, I know you are there for me. Show me all that I have to learn and I will get on with it. This feels to be a very freeing, without protection but a constant relationship.

96. Any form of drama in our lives is totally exhausting, sure life can be difficult and tricky at times but it’s possible to continue moving forward in live and take them in our stride, rather than harming ourselves by getting emotional or blowing it out of proportion.

97. To realise there is no need to focus on issues but rather develop a relationship with our bodies that have innate wisdom and understanding of how to return to the beauty of our truth.

98. Today I have had a chaotic drama filled day. Looking back over the last week it’s been much the same. But in the midst of it all, I can see I have a choice to stop and see that it’s all not real – but just an addiction like any chocolate, sweet or drug that we take. Thank you Joan for this beautiful blog, and helping me see that beneath the drama, the anger, the sadness is the issue free, real me just waiting to be embraced.

99. We have a responsibility in how we express as it not only has effects on our body and health but also impacts others. Even our body language has the potential to heal and inspire or harm. Drama and emotion makes it look like we are purging and freeing ourselves – but when done out of indulgence or dumping on others, there is no true healing.

    1. very true Rachael, yet to accept that we would have to take responsibility for the way we have lived and the way we will choose to live from here on in. This takes dedication and commitment and I have found this is what we lack. We lack the ability to understand the harm it does on such a deep level that we choose never to contribute to that again – and to choose it consistently. It seems we (myself included here as I continually discover a new layer) can do short term change but consistency and commitment to be willing to see the rot and not perpetuate it is a smidgen harder.

100. It can be easy to fall for the notion that when we are emotional we are alive and that compared to an empty flat feeling or misery, emotional living seems like a stimulation and a good thing. But as this blog shows is this really all it is cracked up to be?

101. I have performed on stage many times either in drama or music and it is easy to focus on the drama as being it and in these circles it is often thought of as a good thing if you can incite an emotional reaction in the audience by immersing yourself in the emotion yourself. However whenever I used to do this I would always end up exhausted and drained at the end. These days I no longer present emotions but stillness in motion, which is a certain steady quality within me or me being me and the results both for me and the audience are very different.

102. Not only we choose what to be addicted to, but also we choose the extent to which we want to be addicted to the addiction. Addictions are self-created paths that we create in disconnection, out of our primary addiction: not to feel energy. We identify with them, so we make them part of us (although they are not). They end up governing us

103. Having felt myself choosing to drop back into the drama the last few months I came back to read my own blog to remind myself of the truth about emotions and feelings. I am much appreciating all the very supportive and wise comments. I can feel how the emotion is an escape, and as Fiona says, it has impacted on my body which is suffering from my indulgence. I realise even eating can be a drama if I make it so. And why do I create drama? I feel at the moment it is to stop me feeling my ongoing sense of lack of self worth, which is actually not a truth but an illusion. When I pause to feel my inner heart and connection with the All, and come away from the “all about me” consciousness, I feel the warmth grow inside and expand me, and then there is no need for emotion or drama.

104. Superb delineation of the illusion of the healing benefit of catharsis through emotional release.

105. Emotions themselves are simply reactions. The problem is that they incite a state of being that clouds our view on life, and stops us from actually experiencing life as it could be. The more emotional you are, the more complicated life becomes. And so, under anger, there is often grief. And under grief, there is the feeling of separation, which stops you feeling how everything is actually connected. Under frustration is a need to control life to suit what you want, and so your ability to truly contemplate and understand life is diminished… Happiness or emotional love gives us a feeling of euphoria, a feeling that can never be held onto for very long without further stimulation. And so the list goes on. However, to be free of the embroilment of emotions (at least without perfection) does not mean you don’t feel anything. Of course you feel life and are actually even more acutely sensitive to other people’s emotional states etc. Only, you are clearer to actually sense what is truly going on and therefore more able to respond to life and not react.

106. Joan, I love what you write here, isn’t it true that the aim of so much creative work is to draw out that “cathartic” response. This would be viewed as quite mad if we were to all appreciate that emotion is very harming, and that when we live free of emotion, our lives become simpler and actually much better. For me removing emotion has meant I have more energy, am more reasoned in my actions and can actually genuinely consider other in a more rationale and crucially loving way.

107. Drama is used to stimulate the nervous system which stops us from observing and reading life. Energetically it creates a spike in the graph which effectively wipes out the possibility of stillness, consistency and true love. Why would we do it? Because it is hard at first to accept what this awareness shows us about the dire state of the world, and that we have had a part to play in it.

108. Joan, I agree, “Universal Medicine who have offered me, along with many others, something incomparable to anything else I have ever experienced in this world,”. Absolutely I feel the same. What Universal Medicine offers feels very different and very true, what is presented makes sense and as a student of Universal Medicine my confidence has increased, I am less emotional and reactive, I’m calmer, more open and loving with myself and others. This is the only organisation I have found that has inspired me to make changes in my life that have proven to be truly loving and supportive.

109. What if – BIG changes came from small and unremarkable steps, yet steps walked with such a solid consistency that the walk in itself becomes totally remarkable compared to the discordant pace we otherwise become so used to?

110. Drama has been such an ingrained pattern in our lives – a way of getting attention and recognition and grabbing individuality. I had been married for many years and then left that relationship and began to live on my own and I became aware of the drama I was creating every time some ‘man job’ came up that I didn’t know how to do. Bit by bit I learnt how the deal with such jobs and emergencies, without anyone to consult, and now, due to the discipline of choosing observation I can deal with anything that comes up without drama. What a wonderful change! So much energy is wasted with drama and it prevents you from seeing exactly what needs to be done.

111. We don’t get taught growing up just how draining drama is on our body. We accept it as part of life, but once we realise that what we have been living and accepting is a big fat lie, and that drama isn’t actually part of the true recipe of life, a different way presents itself, and then life becomes far simpler and more enjoyable!

112. Reading this today is the best dose of medicine I could have taken. “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.”
     I received an today email in which I felt my body surrender to the next stage of living that it offered, and then I let what would be determined a normal reaction to what I had read cloud what I had felt. Very beautiful, as in this whole experience I can now choose to stay with my initial feeling, opening gracefully to whatever that means.

113. I am learning to observe life. This supports me to be less likely to choose to join the dramas and emotions that surround me and the world. To simply observe situations supports me to not react and become defensive or judgmental but stay steady, loving and connected to my essence.

114. Awesome Joan, thank you for sharing your evolution here. What you share about emotions feels very powerful. Emotions are not true feelings but reactions or reinterpretations of true feelings that remove us from the opportunity to heal, but instead leave us in a circular self-repeating movement of drama. We actually indulge in emotions when we do this and as you experienced, heal nothing. Emotions create another layer of energy that allows us to appear to be making progress and releasing our pain when we are not dealing with anything real at all. ‘All the worlds a stage…’.

115. I have known a good few people over the years that I would judge and could see that they needed the drama, and that when things got too quiet they would kick up a ruckus and off we would all go again. And yes I would judge them and think to myself how tiresome it was, and that I didn’t do that, but on closer inspection I could feel the hook of being pulled in and that by contributing to it kept the cycle going – so yes, I also needed the drama.
     Thank you Joan for highlighting that drama does not have to be dramatic, it can also be subtle.

116. You say being a drama queen was entertaining for yourself, but not everyone else – well, once I was in a group process set up, sharing and expressing my anger and I actually started feel that I was entertaining others in the group. There was this hooking energy working in both ways – from me to them, and from them to me. As soon as I clocked that, I was no longer interested in ‘releasing emotion’ – which was actually not releasing, but magnifying and stirring.

     1. True Fumiyo for when we are caught up in the emotional haze of our drama queen reactions we should never underestimate how debilitating the ripple effect that these emotional reactions can have on others.

117. It’s so awesome to start being honest with myself about dramas I create. So calm on the outside but so much drama in a day – will I get something wrong? will someone take offence at me? etc. ‘The one thing I can trust is my inner essence.’ Love this. As I am beginning to do so and trust my inner essence the drama is less, I’m not choosing it as much and instead and choosing to be there for myself and I can now see that my essence doesn’t go anywhere and is steady and can always be relied upon should I give it a chance.

118. When I react to certain things and people those are the moments I remind myself to stop and not be further led into the pit of emotion. As these points when I am willing to stop allows me a deeper awareness into what my hurts are and so I can be honest about them, appreciate them and be more understanding towards myself.

119. The amount of energy we spend on drama can be really exhausting. The less drama I have in my life the more energy I have.

120. Emotions and feelings are often referred to as being one and the same but what I have learned is that there is a clear difference between the two. I very much appreciate the clarity with which Serge Benhayon presents on the topic of our emotions and the greater awareness and understanding this brings to my life.

121. How freeing to accept that emotional drama serves no purpose whatsoever. That’s not to say there isn’t a place for emotions, because of course there is….but understanding that dwelling on those emotions only creates more harm for the body is a huge realisation and life changing too.

122. Drama takes us further away from who we are, because we end up indulging ourselves with what is going on outside of us, and not connecting to what is within.

123. All I could feel while reading is how invested we can become in drama and emotions, clinging to them for identification. A very sneaky side road to avoid feeling truth of a situation.

124. When we feel dead, emotionally frozen, given up… drama and catharsis can make us feel very alive, but when we feel true love, harmony, joy the emotions produced when acting out in drama and catharsis are killing any true feeling and get exposed for being nothing but a devastating and empty surrogate for the lack of true connection with oneself.

125. There is a huge difference between emotional love, and love. Both are “feelings”, one could say. But the former is like a suffocating blanket that is imposing that does not allow you to “feel anything else in that moment, whereas true love is light to the touch, expansive, and completely non-imposing. As such it allows you to feel all of life concurrently, not just love. In other words, it still leaves you free to choose your state of being, and to choose to align to what it offers, or choose another way if you prefer.

126. Recently I have become aware of how I can sometimes go into overwhelm and then although I have felt the overwhelm and know it is there, I have chosen to ignore it by distracting myself to further delay the commitment to myself and therefore to life. It is quite interesting what we will do to distract ourselves because we simply do not want to face or feel what is happening within our body in the present moment.

127. Tricky situations come up all of the time. Over the years I’ve seen how I have sometimes contributed to the drama with my reactions. We can’t stop uncomfortable and distressing things happening, but we can control how we respond to them and that has been a great lesson for me to learn and put into practice.

128. As I read this article, acceptance is what stands out for me. Everything Joan shared here about needing drama is simply halted in its tracks when we accept what is there behind the need for drama. Acceptance, brings more of its self and with acceptance we become very still. Drama gets exposed very quickly as the diversion away from our stillness it actually is.

129. Emotions are so ingrained, a reaction to the feelings we have constantly to not truly deal with them but to let them surface for a bit before putting them down deep inside not to feel. As you share, this is far from healing what is going on seeing the feelings for what they are letting them come up and show their head, clear them. To truly let go.

130. Joan the steps you took to let go of these harming behaviours and to begin to truly heal is deeply inspiring and supportive for us all. I also learnt to let go of drama in my life with the support of Universal Medicine and life has become more simple and certainly more joyful this way.

131. It’s great how you expose just how much we indulge in emotions and essentially a life of misery, to the point we actually enjoy misery, yet when the simple principles of love and self care are applied we really start to see what we’re missing out on by making our lives so emotional and tumultuous.

132. Whether we care to acknowledge it or not harmony is our natural way.

133. Are we playing out the emotions or are we being played? I have observed the journey, an emotion one can take us on, which adds to the original drama and so it will build until we exhaust every avenue and ourselves in the process. On the other hand being the observer, not being drawn in allows our inner clarity and wisdom to be present and the drama can fade away very quickly, often like a spot fire that without fuel will dye out, add fuel and it will rage.

134. The destructive and unhealthy effects of sugar and caffeine are these days becoming more and more well known. But little is said it seems to me of the horrible and damaging consequences of emotional drama. We can give up certain foods and take healthy supplements, but are we willing to step off the emotional rollercoaster? For as you show Joan, this diet of ups and downs is nothing compared to the steady stillness of knowing the Love that we are.

135. A beautifully honesty sharing Joan, coming home to the true you after the rollercoaster ride of a life of emotions, what more could be better than living from your own divine essence.

136. “I know that just being me by trusting my inner essence and living my life every day in consistency brings a lasting healing” We can’t go wrong if we truly listen to our body and our innermost. No emotional drama there – just stillness, love and healing.

137. In everything we do we are either healing or harming; such a simple recipe for life.

138. I also knew drama and would revel in talking it through, this came all from my head an I’d have to say indulgence…it didn’t get me out of it…learning to stay with body, and specifically take responsibility, this has enabled me to not go into drama. Every now and then it pops in and I can see it now for what it is, a distraction and a need for emotional turmoil rather than true healing.

139. It is to our great detriment that teachers such as Socrates and Jesus ‘were condemned to death for questioning the value of accepted beliefs and for teaching that we all have responsibility for our own healing.’ So much of the emotional drama roller coaster is built on the ‘blame game’ but it is only when we are willing to look at our own part in our issues that we are able to bring true healing and find vitality and joy in our lives.

140. Thank you Joan I can relate to being addicted to having drama in my life as an escape from my constant underlying feeling of ‘Is this it’ and general disappointment in life. If I didn’t have any drama in my life I would get caught up in someone else’s and I can remember a friend whose problem got resolved remarking to me that I almost seemed disappointed and although I denied it I knew she was right, it felt awful but without the emotional rollercoaster of trying to sort out her problem I was left with the emptiness at the core of my life… until I found something else to distract me. It was only once I started attending Universal Medicine presentations that I was able to work through my issues rather than burying them and to recognise and connect to my inner essence and deeply appreciate that all the answers are within me if I only stay still long enough to listen.

141. So much of theatre, opera and music is about evoking emotions in people or taking us on an emotional journey – it’s a great point you raise here Joan. But do we stop to consider what ‘journey’ our body is being taken on by this or how it affects us after the moment?

142. Well Joan it sounds like you are a far cry from the Joan of old and how much joyful and less stressful than it must have been also. With the world becoming more entwined with drama, chaos and confusion it’s great to see someone heading in the other direction.

143. Emotions numb and we pay a price for that numbness. It is in some ways similar to alcohol.

144. This is an enormously supportive blog Joan, aside from your own massive shift which is very enlightening and inspiring. To understand that emotions and feelings are different is actually quite revelationary… “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” It is commonly accepted and understood that if you don’t have emotions then you are ‘unfeeling’. This couldn’t be further from the truth as it turns out… but as you say, emotions allow us to avoid what we have really felt, and therefore be able to deal with it as it needs to.

145. They say the ‘All the worlds is a stage, and all the men and women merely players…… ‘ As I have now discovered, the stage is an outward seeking for recognition and serves no part in the true connection to our inner most, where true self love and appreciation are our source. Seeking recognition outside of ourselves is part of the game we are enticed to play.

146. What a massive turn around Joan. Emotions are a great way for us to avoid feeling the truth of a situation. They can become a roller coaster ride that is hard to get off. It’s a lot like a sugar addiction, we find something that feeds us what we want but in truth it’s not what supports us or what we truly need, it instead keeps us in exhaustion and coming back for more.

147. Thank you Jane for sharing your experience living with drama, drama is something I would run a mile from always looking for peace, which is the opposite, but not it also. So beautiful we have come to understand who we truly are and we are learning to take responsibility for our choices and now choosing to heal and live from our true essence. I have Serge Benhayon and the Ageless Wisdom and The Way of The Livingness to thank also.

148. Emotional drama is interesting. I started to feel drained simply by reading about how you used to be Joan. I reminds me of the emotional drama pool I used to swim in (in circles mind you). Occasionally I revisit it, but thankfully my awareness is such that I always know I have a choice to get out.

149. ‘Universal Medicine is a part of the continual unfolding of The Ageless Wisdom, through such teachers as Socrates and Jesus. Both were condemned to death for questioning the value of accepted beliefs and for teaching that we all have responsibility for our own healing.’ This is a wonderful and super simple summary of where this Ageless Wisdom comes from.

150. The beauty of our connection to our hearts and bodies is the opportunity to deepen our awareness and observations of the world around us and that is something we can all benefit from, as it allows us the space to feel from within with depth and love. Thank you Joan.

151. When we choose for love we start the healing of the hurts we carry for so long and with that also the need to hold on to emotions and the attraction to it. It is a letting go of the sadness of living a life in separation to that love we all are from.

152. Even in the telling of a story we can find ourselves getting back into the emotion that we felt at the time, or our reaction to a judgement we made about it. This revisiting or moving into emotion disturbs the body and upsets the mind. We are bringing disharmony to ourselves, is that really worth the attention that we get ..that is, if those we are relating the story to, allow us that attention. True friends hold us in love so we know when we are moving away from harmony and also give us the space to come back.

153. This subject has been really in my face over the last few days – a constant repetition of the same reactions to situations playing out over and over again and the frustration in having them repeat, but that repetition and frustration – I am saying ‘yes please’ it’s as if a part of me wants to stay stuck in that little cycle of blaming. But it doesn’t actually support me or anyone else in that situation and just makes things worse. The moment I start to claim and question that I have chosen this situation and ask what is it that I am avoiding feeling by indulging in this little cycle those seeming ‘issues’ fade into nothing, it’s like they are a smoke screen for the fact that the real issue is me not wanting to feel deeper and be aware of the fact that I am feeling that there is more in life at play than ‘they said this’ or ‘they did that’. Staying in that unaware, emotional state is addictive but like any addiction it is ultimately destructive but can be healed when I choose to re-connect to my essence and my feelings from my body.

154. Great blog to read Joan, such a lovely reminder to not be addicted to emotions or, as equally damaging, to the avoidance and shutting down of emotions. Like you I am grateful for the teachings of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.

155. Taking on other people’s emotions use to be the way that I brought drama into my life. Thanks to the teachings of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I have learned to observe what is occurring for another without having to take it on. This has allowed me to be far more compassionate with people.

156. ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves’ You have nailed it Joan. The whole crooked purpose of a reaction is to throw a smoke screen over what is actually there to be felt and read by us. The smoke screen, as we know, is only a temporary and not very effective cover which simply prevents us from truly seeing. It is time to be courageous enough to face and see what is going on in our world and all around us – to feel what is going on in all its rawness. Only then can we come to true understanding and heal ourselves and the world.

157. “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” Wow Joan, I have never heard it described quite like this. Getting caught up in emotions has never helped me to sort anything out it is very true. Understanding the clear difference between feelings and emotions is key… and a powerful game-changer for us all.

158. “Now I know differently and I see that I was addicted to drama and emotion in my life.” Reading this it felt very familiar as when there wasn’t drama for me to react to I would create it and I was constantly exhausted. As a student of Universal Medicine I have stepped off the drama/reaction roller-coaster and found an inner stillness that is beautiful.

159. On reading your blog Joan I have an increased awareness of hidden and unacknowledged emotions and the devastating impact they have. Whilst I would never call myself a drama queen I certainly claim emotional withdrawal and have certainly felt the harming impact on my body. Thank you Joan for the inspiration.

160. Joan I love the way you have put the everyday addiction to being a drama queen into a historical context and showed how this stream of emotional behaviour and the belief system that sprung up around it was steered by Aristotle and taken up by Freud. And then there is the Ancient Wisdom and its golden thread of wisdom and truth that has remained through the ages even if it sometimes went underground as it did in the Dark Ages. Yes, as you said, Jesus and Socrates were both condemned to death for carrying the flame of the Ancient Wisdom in their hearts and expressing from there! It looks like the drama consciousness won, but in fact, it didn’t and never can win, it can only delay our return to Soul.

161. Emotions as release valves….this hit me like a thunderbolt and I got it on a whole new level. When we do the ‘drama king/queen’ bit, we build up emotions and then we have to let ‘off steam’, and then the whole process happens again and again. No wonder we are tired! And on reading the comments, I can see how we also use them to hide/cover up what we are truly feeling as they can be great distractions! thanks for writing about this Joan, fascinating.

162. I think you raise an important distinction here Joan – of there being a difference between emotions and feelings. With feelings there is more of an observation going on – a sensing of the world and ourselves and what is needed for everyone rather than what we want just for ourselves.

163. Great sharing and many points that people will be able to relate to… I know I have.

164. Our definition of living has for so long, revolved around life being a ‘rich tapestry’ of incidents, situations and sensational events. But what if we were as you say Joan, to remove this drama from our internal picture? What would our day to day world actually feel like? What if we were to find underneath, in our body, that there is no real up and down, more or less, but just a constant consistency of Love that we can know each and every day?

165. Through recognising my own tendency to go into unnecessary drama, I have also been able to begin to see it in others as well, and learn how to manage the dramatic in others. Mainly by simply not indulging in it with them.

166. I find this journey with drama, catharsis and emotions continually amazing, always there are more and more subtle indications of the underlying ingrained habit. Only today I realised that the low grade ANXIETY that so often rules my life if I choose it, is a series of mini dramas. I had not realised this, but now I can see that I have tucked this drama into another “box”! I make the drama when I get anxious. The way to go is always to connect back to my body and feel where my tensions are and breathe and move in a different way, let go of the thoughts and connect with the space I feel inside, and the warmth that arise in my heart which gives me the answer — there is no need for drama or anxiety

167. Great true story Joan! So refreshing to read about someone’s healing experience not involving drama. It’s crazy how heavily reliant we have been with emotional and dramatic exercises to help us heal our hurts. None of it works…it’s such a false sense of security.
     I know I have indulged in my emotional stuff over the years, and it gets me nowhere; just further down the dark hole….there’s no power in it, it simply destroys you. But to learn to accept that there’s nothing wrong in the first place is an enormous, and so few are willing to connect to this wisdom and share it, because it requires enormous responsibility.

168. The false power of certain beliefs, such as catharsis being a way of healing, can be devastating on a whole life. The chaotic rhythm of catharsis serves to cast the body into a disjointed way of being which finally brings on bodily illness. Thank you for exposing so beautifully the falseness of catharsis and its damaging affects, Christine.

169. I can absolutely relate with using emotional states either as a form of indulgence or under the skewed belief that I was releasing the emotion when in fact just exacerbating it and exhausting myself in the process. Having realised the power of esoteric healing, awareness and observation, to process emotions before they compound, I no longer find myself drained from them on a regular basis, but if I even do… boy do I feel the effect it has on my body… a great reminder that that is not the way to deal with them.

170. It is very easy to get caught in emotions and emotional drama, once in it, it can really take you on a spin. To come out of it one really has to feel and connect, and nominate the energy causing more reactions.

     1. I experienced this only this morning Amita! I used to have panic attacks that completely devastated me and became a dramatic episode I created for myself. Since being a student of Universal Medicine I rarely experience them. When I do they are very small with no great dramatic reaction, but this morning I noticed a subtler level, yet again. I had a slight panic about an old thing that is obviously not yet quite cleared for me, and I discovered that the reaction to the trigger was very internal. It did not become an outside racing around to seek help or exploding in a dramatic outburst. The drama was the sudden feeing of shock that spread through every cell of my body. I could feel the chemical change. The change is incredible, from feeling warm and expanded to cold and contracted, and I feel from alkaline to acid. This becoming subtler in its effect brings me closer to being able to feel why and how the trigger came to be there so that I can let go of it altogether. For sure it is something about trust and connection with my inner heart.

171. Keeping a ‘stiff upper lip’ and bottling everything up inside is just as harming as going into intense emotional drama. The ill-energy in our body does need to be felt and nominated, to allow that configuration to be released. But an intense emotional reaction only serves to add further layers so that the core issue is further buried.

172. Feelings and emotions as you say are two completely different things, the latter being a state of being that reduces our capacity to connect to the former. It is our emotional response to the world that clouds our perception of reality, whilst true feelings serve to deepen our understanding of reality.

173. “Through my study with Universal Medicine I began to understand how attachment to and indulgence in emotions causes our illnesses”. What a powerful lesson to learn Joan and to your credit you have heeded what Serge Benhayon has presented, so much here to appreciate.

174. What a sincerely powerful blog, the description of attachments to emotions, that keep one away from connecting to the truth, and love within, dismantles any idea that one has to re-live the emotion in order to let it go or clear it. A great sharing.

175. It is a known fact that emotional drama is more addictive than heroin. It is like a drug that takes you on the roller coaster of the highs and the lows. This is a great account Joan of how you have turned this around . As one former drama queen to another I would like to congratulate you on your breaking this addiction.

176. Gosh how many people in society are addicted to drama, there are many, I was someone who was in the past also. Always needing to be in some kind of emotional state of being, talking endlessly about my issues and those issues of others. It was exhausting. Life is very different now, letting go of emotions and relearning to connect deeply with myself, has assist this unfolding.

177. The roller coaster of the emotional life fools us into imagining that we are alive and living – it is at least not boring! But it is such a pseudo-life and cannot compare to the steady life of loving consistency – a way of life that builds and conserves energy and brings immense vitality and joy.

178. What you have expressed here Joan is a wonderful explanation of the difference between feelings and emotions, thankyou;
     “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves”.

179. What you have written in so interesting Joan. To realise the path that Aristotle took and then Freud, it is revelatory to realise that reliving drama is not going to solve anything. To really help ourselves we need to relinquish the hold that drama has on us with the love of the excitement it makes us feel. The drama keeps us from feeling boring, it keeps us from feeling the truth of our lives, it keeps us from feeling. I have benefited so much from the teachings of Serge Benhayon. My life feels so much more solid and the foundation within me is more solid and more me than it has ever been.

180. Thanks for nominating the healing benefit of not letting reaction and emotions run the show, instead feeling the buried hurt which allows for it to leave the body and therefore heal.

181. ‘I no longer have an addiction to drama and the ensuing roller coaster of lows and highs, and I no longer need or even want my weekly thrill of theatre, entertainment, or catharsis as a way of briefly relieving my symptoms.’ You have so well identified our investment in emotional drama in our lives (whether our own or seen on stage and screen) is a form of addiction to distract us away from feeling our deeply held emotional hurts. We just cover up our own drama with more drama, and multiply the disharmony in the world.It is an addiction every bit as much as drinking alcohol or taking drugs, and has a real impact on our body’s health and wellbeing.

182. For me too, when I met Serge Benhayon the days of seeking truth (read ‘on the run’) were put on final notice. Understanding that there is no need to go anywhere as indeed everything is already within, we just have to learn to let it unfold back out – by letting go of what is not us… It seemed revolutionary, but as presented, it made so much sense, and since then I have realised that this great wisdom has been presented time and time again over the ages.

     1. Well said Annie. We spend so long looking to solve ‘our issues’ and yet there is a part of us that is deeply married to these things we actively keep close to our heart. But as Joan shows here so delicately these issues are not true or part of us at all, but just a way to block and distract from what we feel inside. What a big relief to see we no longer need to entertain these issues as you and me.

183. Thank you Joan. I too loved drama and studied it at University level and I can absolutely relate to ‘needing an audience’ in my everyday life. Emotions seem to feed off emotions. I now see this emotional maelstrom for the poison that it is and I know I have a responsibility to avoid poisoning myself and others through emotional expression, I am certainly not ‘there yet’ but feel well on my way thanks to the support I have received from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.

184. “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.”
     Pondering on this statement I fell looking back on my child hood and teenage years the only emotions I was capable of feeling in the moments I wasn’t completely checked out and numb were rage and anger. It wasn’t until l learnt to feel and connect with my body I could feel any emotion. This has been a long slow process for me to reach a point where I can observe my body and trust my inner heart to guide me safely through life I am able to love and nurture myself and express and accept love in my life.

185. Joan thank you for sharing, living a life on an emotional roller coaster is something that many people can relate to, the ups, downs and daily drama of life can be harmful to our physiology just as other drugs and stimulants can be.

186. This blog is one of my all-time favourites as it holds such a key for our healing as a race. Joan writes: ‘ With the “stiff upper lip” disappearing, emotions have become the way of expressing and are viewed as essential and often mistaken for true feeling.’ Anglo-Saxon society in particular has adopted the ‘stiff upper lip’ as a mode of being to cope with the devastation we are feeling inside. Then along comes permission to express our emotions. Instead the step could have been: permission to feel our emotions, name them, and realise that they are alien to our system and not who we really are. But instead we were offered the carrot to ‘express our emotions’. This felt ‘alive’ compared to the ‘stiff upper lip’ approach and so we mistakenly took this comparative aliveness for the real thing, but actually got hooked into indulgence and chaos.

187. As a whole, society hasn’t yet realised how harming emotions are to our body’s homeostasis. Immediately we have an emotional reaction our body is having to go into ’emergency’ mode and bring a chemical balance back, just as when we drink coffee or alcohol. Every medical text book tells us what these substances do to the body’s state of wellness, but not many have yet pointed to the same harm happening when we ’emote’.

188. Thank you Joan – I too can relate to the drama queen bit – playing it as well as seeing others playing it too. It is exhausting at best to experience (on the playing the role end but also on the receiving end of someone else’s performance too). Thankfully I did drop the drama queen experience eventually, realising it was not really helping anyone, but in the process I did not learn to share what I was feeling and so this did not make things any better. It was only once I met Serge Benhayon and started listing to some of the presentations from Universal Medicine that I began to understand the importance of expressing myself and sharing what I was feeling (but expressing it without dramatising it). This has been such am amazing support in my life, and so wonderful to take on board and as I am discovering, a continual learning and a continual blessing each and every time that I express more deeply and more honestly.

189. It is important to realise the harm of going into emotional states and reactions… they have an identification and familiarity, but if honest we can can feel just how much they harm the body ultimately resulting in ill-health conditions that are unnecessary and only serve to intensify the drama in our lives. Learning to not buy into harmful emotions can have a huge impact, not only on one’s health and well-being, but also on gaining far greater insight and understanding in life.

190. “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves” – this really stood out for me as I have often found it difficult to go beyond the hurt I feel. I know I am not the emotions or the hurt, but then to know myself for what I truly am and keep coming back to it is something I need practice on.

191. It’s incredible how much the world loves drama, and how when we create drama there is no peace for stillness. Drama feeds drama until we take responsibility and realise that is not the way, distraction from what we don’t want to feel or be. When we choose to buy into emotions or drama, life feels hectic and difficult to find the clear path.

192. Emotions are so addictive in a way, if I get emotional it is in a way satisfying but also constantly feeling like there is more needed it is never enough. I like the drama and I don’t at the same time. I like it because it gives me attention but what I don’t like about it, and what is also the reason I am consciously choosing to not go into emotions as much as I can, is the feeling I am left with after having gone into the emotion and finally coming out, as yeah life goes on…the feeling of then 1. being exhausted and 2. noticing that like nothing really has changed, life is still the same and the same issues are there to deal with. So yes I agree with you in full Joan, emotions are not helpful at all to go into and relive, delve into etc.

     1. Spot on Lieke, emotions can be so incredibly addictive, no different to a drug effect. But they are only addictive when we feel like we need something from them – in other words if we dont get anything from them in return then there is no desire nor need for the ‘drug’ or the ’emotions’. For me emotions were something I got drawn into as it took me away from having to deal with the situation in the first place – there was a part of me that was not interested in taking responsibility and behaving maturely and with the capacity that I actually had/have within me. Now this sounds crazy but really I did not want to take that part on board because then it would show me how simple and straightforward life actually was, and I was so convinced that life had to be complicated and difficult. Admitting to this one thing would then have meant I had to admit to a whole bunch of other things being so much more simple too! My game would have been exposed. But as it is, today I have made huge inroads in having given up on the drama queen and the emotions. On occasion they do still creep in, however, I am far better now at catching it and putting a stop to it.

193. I am slowly beginning to realise that getting upset and emotional about things never supports. I have had some intense things happen lately and I keep reminding myself to feel deeply what is happening but not let the emotional flood gates open, it is a comfort for me to allow emotions to take over, as letting emotions in is the perfect way to avoid feeling what is coming up for me. It’s always a challenge when big stuff happens but so far I am doing well. This blog is a support at this time and a great reminder of what is possible.

194. After being in presentation with Serge Benhayon yesterday it is has become clear to me why we become attached to this emotional behaviour that seeks excitement and stimulation all the time, even creating crises where they do are not needed. From when we are very young our parents, (who learned the same behaviour from their parents) were also asking us to be more than we are, and also feeling they had to provide us with stimulation. This takes us further and further away from the gorgeous selves we are. We are enough, we do not need to strive for anything else or prove ourselves in any way by creating excess excitement.

195. This is such a brilliant expose Joan. Even if we don’t end up going on stage for a career we so often lead lives that are worthy of being televised as an emotional soap opera or mega drama. It is, as you say, a ‘volatile roller coaster existence’ which deeply affects our stillness and serenity levels so that it makes it impossible for us to access true love and true truth. Going through the dramatic routine makes us imagine that we are alive and kicking – we imagine we have a life. But it is only a poor substitute for the real thing.

196. Thanks for sharing your story Joan. Learning the difference between emotions and feelings is a big step for most of us, especially in this world where the media feasts on emotional outpouring, whether that is via a tragedy of some sort, politics, sport or so forth. In fact someone who is calm is often branded as uncaring. Yet, as you have demonstrated – it’s all unnecessary and actually harmful. In my experience I also found that learning to live my life by honestly facing feelings that arise has offered a much more stable and caring way of living.

197. We create dramas as a distraction and cop out to not take responsibility of our lives but this is at the expense of our bodies as living in this way only weathers our bodies down until burnt out. Letting go of these open us up to connect to our true essence and the flow and joy of life.

198. I am enormously thankful to Universal Medicine for showing me how to feel my hurts without indulging in them and helping me to understand just how harmful emotions are – something that should be taught in schools. It’s not about ignoring the child when they’re confused by feelings that may be overwhelming for them but gently supporting them to be able to express what and how it is they’re feeling. Catharsis on the other hand seems to create a well worn path of torment in the body.

199. That is so interesting Jill, what happens to those emotions we feel as a child when we are not allowed to express them? They become held in the body and the suppression of what we are truly feeling becomes habitual. Watching children I have observed that they react emotionally very naturally, tantrums and so on, and everything matters, but if this is not allowed to come out then there can be no guidance, or gentle way of showing them the difference between feeling and emotion as they grow up. Teaching them to discern what the true feeling is under the reaction is a gift for every child. And of course, they have a lot to teach us, for when they do not go into drama the way they express their feelings is awesome.

200. Thank you Joan for sharing so honestly your experience, I was not at all into drama, that was not acceptable when growing up, instead I held back, squashed down any emotion I was feeling, I have had a lid on my self most of my life, drama would draw attention to myself and that would not feel safe. Like you Universal Medicine has shown me I have a choice to come out from hiding and live from the inner essence of love that lives within me.

201. From reading your blog Joan I am reminded of how I use to use drama in my life, often when I was not able to make sense of what was going on, and as a result I would indulge in either my own drama or someone else’s. Through Universal Medicine I have learnt a very different way of life, and through the choices I now make drama is no longer a part of my life.

202. I find what you’re sharing here Joan very interesting in the sense that once again the majority of humanity have chosen to avoid self-responsibility over indulgence in our “issues” and avoid truth to the point of calling for the deaths of those prepared to stand up and reveal the harm of the cathartic way of dealing with things: “It was Aristotle who claimed that re-living traumas by emotionally experiencing, then playing them out in the theatre, was the answer to resolve issues and heal. Freud was influenced by Aristotle and this influence has been fed into the psychotherapy movement, whereas Universal Medicine is a part of the continual unfolding of The Ageless Wisdom, through such teachers as Socrates and Jesus. Both were condemned to death for questioning the value of accepted beliefs and for teaching that we all have responsibility for our own healing.”

     1. This seems to be a common theme through the ages Deborah, for example the majority of humanity chose the noisy and dirty combustion engine over other quieter and more efficient alternatives. I seem to remember because it was easier and cheaper? How often we choose the “easy” and “cheap” alternative. It is much more difficult to take self responsibility for ourselves than blaming others, or indulging in the emotions, — the cheap way.

        1. “It is much more difficult to take self responsibility for ourselves than blaming others, or indulging in the emotions, — the cheap way.” Agreed Joan – in the short term – but like buying anything cheap it’s a short term fix and in the long run we end up paying big time anyway as it’s really just false economics. So really what I’m saying is it’s very worthwhile taking responsibility and putting the effort in from very the beginning.

203. Thank you Joan for your honesty and openness in this blog. I can relate to your blog, as drama was a theme in my life that I used to distract myself and keep myself in a spin. I no longer choose to live this way thanks to the support of Universal Medicine, and living with more simplicity has allowed more space for joy and love and a true connection with others and myself.

204. Joan re-reading your blog today I can see where I can choose drama in my life over clarity and simplify, over the last few years this has dropped significantly but there are still times I catch myself indulging in drama. Society seems to encourage this sort of behaviour but in truth is detrimental to us all, our bodies and our emotional state. Simplicity and clarity are the only way to go!

205. So on the other hand, when being in the clarity of being non emotional, life is as clear as day, and I can see what is needed. I can see that this emotional stuff is all a distraction from taking steps further, evolving to be more of me.

206. This is great to read Joan, I can see the amount of drama there is in my life, which is far from beneficial for my health or the way I am. Being aware of this creates the opportunity to return and feel me more and more. Keeping out of the emotions is helping me a lot to see life clearly for what it is, while I am in it, it actually is one big blur.. there is nothing that won’t be tinted by that emotion I am in.

207. Joan, this is an awesome blog with many gems throughout for us readers. While I wasn’t raised to show a lot of emotions, I learnt from observing others that drama often drew attention from others – both positive and negative. Looking back, the main emotion I would express was verbal anger which I took as showing that I was an independent thinker who wasn’t afraid to speak out. At the time I thought I was being very authentic and tough. Thankfully for everyone that has changed since my connection with Universal Medicine where I learned that anger was really a mask for avoiding feelings and a form of protection and that it damaged my body, especially my liver. Your blog is a great reminder for me to take a deeper look whenever I feel myself reacting emotionally to situations.

208. Thank you Joan for sharing the amazing changes you have made to your life! I think this is a really important aspect of healing to address – the role that our emotions have in our wellbeing, physically as well as mentally. It’s true that they are often seen as positive and we can be encouraged to magnify them but in my experience too this is only harmful. To be aware of our emotions is essential but this needs to be coupled with understanding and not indulgence so that we can truly let them go, resolve whatever is there to be resolved within ourself and move on.

209. The whole world is hooked on emotions; music, theatre, films, the more emotional it can hook you the better it will be received and probably the more money it will make. It’s so great to have an idea of how to see through all this and live in a true more loving way.

     1. Yes Kevin, it’s great to be able to see through it, and see through it we can because it is illusion! We only have to feel where the entertainment industry takes us — away from ourselves into fantasy and longings and reliving emotional traumas, to know that. It is all very manipulative and keeps us trapped in the same old cycle of giving our power over to someone else and so stay imprisoned. To break the illusion and truly feel what is going on frees us from that slavery..

210. Awesome blog Joan, we have been sold such a falsity when it comes to emotions and the difference between emotions and feelings. Your blog does a good job of setting the record straight. How badly Aristotle and Freud got it wrong and that is still what a lot of what modern day psychotherapy is based on.

211. We have become accustomed to calling out ‘Drama Queens’, but we overlook how our own days are riddled with many micro-dramas and stories with so many scenes. All of it seems to be a way to distract from the beauty and power we feel when we connect to ourselves and our innate stillness. It’s deeply beautiful how simple this is, and how you present it Joan.

     1. And more presents itself to me every day Joseph; recently it burst upon me how every single little reaction I make is drama, however small, and it is me that makes it so. I find it is still insidious in my life, but to admit it and observe it is beginning to make a change as i say to myself, “there is that drama again”, and “who do I think I am?” Drama is extremely arrogant and self centred, but connecting to my own innate sense of stillness, as you say, makes it absolutely unnecessary.

212. It’s so interesting that Jesus and Socrates ‘Both were condemned to death for questioning the value of accepted beliefs and for teaching that we all have responsibility for our own healing.’
     Isn’t that the very thing that still happens today? People are condemned for bringing forth any form of truth. You have to question what it is we have created. Those willing to be all truth are a minority, and so how are the majority living? Joining the dots exposes where humanity is at, does it not? We’re all riddled with illness and disease.

213. A great reminder that living off the fuel of drama and heightened emotions is but another form of distraction for what is truly missing in our lives – a true relationship with ourselves.

214. What a great revealing blog Joan, thank you, for bringing the topic of being addicted to emotions, what is socially accepted fed by the culture, we are sharing, is so important to be exposed and well understood, as you have, by the proof of your wonderful blog here.
     You have given here in one paragraph, what I was searching for most of my life in different forms of therapies: “I know that just being me by trusting my inner essence and living my life every day in consistency brings a lasting healing. By continually observing the quality of my body, letting the feelings surface and then choosing not to indulge in any emotions that arise in reaction to them, there is no need for a catharsis which takes me away from myself, suppresses the feelings again and locks the emotions in my body. Slowly I am learning to stay with myself and put these things into practice.”

215. “Thirteen years of therapy and re-living my past through re-experiencing it emotionally changed nothing…An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling”. This may be confronting to say but I feel it is this level of honesty Joan that has allowed you to be finally free of the drug of drama. A beautiful reminder that true Love and The Way of The Livingness has no ups and downs but a simple consistency.

     1. So so true Joseph, The Way of The Livingness simply just is. Your comment reminded me of when I first come to the work of Universal Medicine and an Esoteric Practitioner supported me in building consistency in my life, I can honestly remember thinking I had no idea what this meant and had to ask the practitioner to explain what consistency looked like as at the time the only thing I could say I was consistent in was inconsistency!.. 5 years on and consistency has become a great foundation in many areas of my life.

216. Thank you, Joan, for giving such a clear description through your own personal experiences of how emotional drama and cathartic releases are a distraction, hindrance and actually harmful in the endeavour to heal emotional trauma.

217. Joan, this has been my experience of the emotional ride also. I was sold on the idea of not being able to have the amazing highs if you didn’t have the dreadful lows, and being emotional is what makes us human. These were rubbish as I realise how distracted we are with emotion and how irresponsible. The amazing high that love, joy and harmony bring is so much more solid than the emotional one and doesn’t bury anything to come up later. It also honours others instead of making them bear the brunt of the emotional onslaught coming from someone else.

218. Joan this is a beautiful blog exposing how we easily can be so caught up in the dramas of life through our mind and perceiving them as the normal way to be. As you say, once seen and understood for what it is, the horrible, utterly exhausting way of living with the extreme highs and lows of a roller coaster existence can be changed by making different choices.
     “I am learning to take care of myself in a loving way and have become aware that what I was looking for has always been there inside me, I was just not choosing to let go of my old attachments so that I could feel its presence. That has made it possible for me to understand how I can change issues so that they do not come back… unless I start choosing them again”.

219. Joan, today while reading your blog I was amazed about what you’ve presented about the history of the psychotherapy and the history of the Ageless Wisdom, the true way of healing as I have experienced it after tried a lot of other therapies, including psychotherapy. Now I am not trying any longer, just know that the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom brought forth by Serge Benhayon are the only way to heal and live in a responsible and religious way.

220. Your words are so worth re-reading Joan. We often think of drama in its extreme state with people who live more like an opera singer. But when we look closer at our lives, there is a widespread addiction to these seemingly subtle stimulations and stories that take us up and down on a daily rollercoaster that just isn’t true. I love the way you articulate how the healing came through simply letting go of this behavior rather than going in and resolving every issue. Beautiful that in the end it all returns to a simple choice.

     1. It’s interesting about the stories Joseph. More and more, as I listen to others and also myself, I notice that when we go into sharing our experiences as “story” in detail, we often lose ourselves by letting that emotional content in, and it is great entertainment! So how do we share then? I often feel that I am leaving the truth and making a drama and embellishing, rather than stating the facts, and expressing the feeling that is underlying the situation. Stories are fine if they serve to teach us and evolve us, but not to repeat in order to dramatise or seek a response of sympathy, or reassurance, or be popular.

221. Having been brought up in a world where to be able to express emotionally has been celebrated and congratulated, I am now bringing my awareness to the truth in every moment and situation, to expressing in my movement, and way of living from within. So much has changed thanks to all Serge Benhayon has shared and the opportunities to attend Universal Medicine events. Surrender and Joy had never been on my radar in the past but now as the layers of ‘What is not’ are dropping away, the beauty that is held in the simplicity of these two ways is coming to the surface. Thank you Joan for the honesty and for exposing the controlling nature of emotional drama.

222. ‘I am learning to take care of myself in a loving way and have become aware that what I was looking for has always been there inside me, I was just not choosing to let go of my old attachments so that I could feel its presence.’ I am discovering just how much can be in the process of letting go – I have become aware of how I have held onto past hurts, buried old experiences under layers of distraction, numbness and protection and avoided looking at the truth I have always know to be there. Peeling back all of this becomes a natural process when we begin to make simple loving choices, honouring what we feel to be true.

223. I am learning about the harm and devastation caused when we choose emotions to fuel our life. it seems that everywhere we look, we are fed the idea that emotions are very good for us, and that if you don’t have them in copious amounts then you aren’t human. I feel incredible appreciative to now be on the path to allowing and accepting feelings and starting to let go of emotions which are not part of me.

224. Thanks for your honest sharing Joan. Addiction to drama is like any other addiction, when we feed it, it takes over and we get a thrill out of the little highs that are offered along the way. I too was addicted to drama and it hasn’t been until I have valued the beauty in the steadiness and clarity that comes from living without the drama that I have been able to cut the drama seeing that those little highs are not worth it, as with the highs comes the lows.

     1. Beautifully expressed Donna. If we feed anything it grows bigger, and emotions, already being a volatile expression separating us from the true feeling we are seeking to avoid, are very prone to escalating into high drama and becoming an addiction. And like all addictions, they are difficult to stop, and as you say, even to recognise as being a false and protective reaction. Serge Benhayon has made it very clear where emotions come from; they are energy flowing through us from another source that we choose to align with, and so of course we lose connection with ourselves and become attached to the emotion and the drama that goes with it.

225. I have always avoided being cathartic and any healing modalities that were cathartic because it felt so awful and like I would say, take be further down the rabbit hole than give me clarity about what was really going on. What I have realised that in that I have been putting a lid on expressing how I feel because I am trying to control my emotions but then I hold on until I point where I feel like I am going to expload. What I have recently been advised is it better to have the outburst than to hold it to fester within. So, whilst being cathartic was an addiction I was trying to avoid it didn’t change that I was still having an emotional reaction to my hurts and was allowing my emotional reactions to fester within as a way of avoiding my feelings. We have most definitely been fooled no matter how we try to handle it that emotions and feelings are the same thing. Thanks to Universal Medicine I am now aware of the difference and which one serves and heals.

226. I never could understand how reliving something that has happened in the past a form of healing. I see many people walking around with their hurts and holding them tightly. Not free to be themselves. Its such a heavy load to carry. Letting go of the dramas in life is such a freeing experience. Thank you Joan, great blog

227. We can be pleased to acknowledge the sobbing and sadness does not fit, but the fact is the ‘betterness’ and uplifting exultations are part of the same stimulating energy taking you away from you. Well said Joan – this blog offers the true release and end of the cycles catharsis pretends to.

228. This roller coaster ride of emotional drama will always be inherently flawed because it assumes that the hurts we experience are who we are and therefore it blanks out the possibility that there is more to us than the sum of our hurtful times.

229. Living a life of drama as a way of getting attention not love is a well worn path that keeps many hooked and allows us to not take responsibility, go deeper or let people in. In the simplicity of life, free of drama and stories, I am learning there is much more joy.

230. Thank you Joan. I too was stunted by always ‘trying to get it right’ and got caught up in the emotions of the troubles of the world which had me on a roller coaster of despair and hope always searching for an answer as to why we were all in such a mess. Presentations by Serge Benhayon at workshops and courses with Universal Medicine has changed my life and the way I live my life. I am learning to observe the world around me but not to get sucked in and absorb the emotions so that I become part of the problem. Living the Way of the Livingness is truly liberating.

231. Brilliant blog Joan! I am realising that every high and low I experience is a result of my attachment to drama and stimulation. Until I read your blog today I didn’t allow myself to understand that emotions are actually numbing and dull awareness. This is fascinating to me and I can feel how true it is. Thank you.

232. Gosh those workshops about re-enacting out the situation to heal it, really when you think about it, it does not make sense. Aren’t we supposed to be looking before the event to see why we ended in a state that brought us to this point.

     1. So simple Gail!
        Make sense doesn’t it 🙂 ?

233. You throw a little bomb within your powerful blog Joan – you wrote: “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” This is a revelation for all of us who love it to be emotional and also for the whole psychology world. Their world will stand upside down. We all have to re-think what we more or less all have learned about our emotions. I share your experience that it is worth to do so because it is so healing for the body. Perhaps with that our illness and disease rates will not be increasing every year. There is one question arising in me – why should we not give it a try . . .

     1. There is also the school of thought that emotions are what makes us human and worthwhile. But this is easily confused with indulging in our emotions. Anger , Sadness, Lack of self worth. We so often become slaves to our emotions.

234. To think emotions are what makes us human and to champion them seems to be our downfall. Positive emotions like happiness and excitement are still draining, anyone can attest to that if they have had a new relationship where they’ve been caught up in the early stages of emotional love. I have and it’s actually exhausting and never lasts; we often court that butterflies feeling in our stomach as being love, but for me it signified a nervousness about not being on my best behaviour and the budding relationship souring too early on. It’s drama and searching for this drama over and over again with new people is very common, not at all normal, but currently is many people’s only known experience. It is great to blow the lid on what drama really is Joan.

235. I have just been on a Healing Power of Sound workshop with Chris James. The two main themes were control and DRAMA! In this workshop I discovered that much of what I express on a daily basis, in what I have previously felt to be perfectly normal, is in fact drama, in my tone, intonation, choice of words, emphasis, and purpose. Much of it is to do with wanting attention and someone to really take notice. Making a drama of something helps me to feel a false importance, and even “leaning” on a word to emphasise it becomes drama. Someone in the workshop made a statement that anything that is not Love is drama. that really made me reflect and look at my life and expression anew.

236. It is absolutely wonderful to be living a life that is not governed by an emotion or at very least being able to catch the emotion as it tries to enter and feel the instability of experiencing an emotion.

     1. That sounds like heaven matthew! A work in progress for me, but more and more I’m able to catch myself fall head first into complication = drama. When you notice a pattern playing out and you start to say ‘no’, it’s amazing the freedom you get.

237. I can only imagine how exhausting living life addicted to drama and the roller coaster ride of life would be. I always avoided drama which I am glad I did.

238. “I continually worried about getting things right.” This is a killer. I know from my own experience. The pain of being told off is still very present. So, we learn to do things in a way as to avoid this from happening. We do not do it as part of our natural expression. Realising this was important for me. It allowed me to start observing myself and my hurt without reaction if the situation arose. Once I broke free of it, I could started to enjoy doing things from my own natural expression (which by the way is truly beautiful).

     1. Thank you for sharing this Eduardo as I have been observing the anxiousness around getting things wrong, which has improved greatly. But the bit which stands out for me is when you say about doing things from your own natural expression – when I look at it, it makes sense that my natural expression would be suppressed in some way. Awesome thank you.

239. This is such a great blog Joan – ” An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” These words of yours were felt deeply by me, they are gold – it is a most uncomfortable feeling that we are trying to contain but so very harmful (to ourselves and others) when we attempt to do so.

240. Truly gorgeous to feel how it is possible to step off the emotional roller coaster and experience life with a steady observation.

241. There is so much emotion and drama in the world, whether it be fuelled by the media e.g. tv, radio, newspapers, magazines, or whether it is self-generated. The emotional roller coaster ride you describe Joan and the tension this causes within our bodies is so exhausting – which is why so many are turning to stimulants such as coffee, alcohol and sugar to give them energy to get through their day – but at what cost to the body?

     1. Yeah, it’s an epidemic yet we don’t choose to label it one in the same way we label everything else. We all know drama to be exhausting, we talk about it but there is an acceptance for it being normal and ‘just how it is’. It’s killing us, it’s obvious.

242. “And the love continues”… forever and always. Just beautiful Joan
     I love what you have written here; this really resonated with me;
     “I know where my heart lies, for since meeting Serge Benhayon, experiencing many healing sessions with esoteric practitioners and participating in workshops presented by Universal Medicine, I am learning to take care of myself in a loving way and have become aware that what I was looking for has always been there inside me”
     The choice is ours!!

     1. And i am realising more and more Shirl, that the choice has to be made in every moment for as long as we live, as there are so many belief systems in ourselves and others, that remain buried in us, and it is only by becoming aware of them when we get emotional or mental that we can look at them for what they are and clear them. It is that constant awareness and then choosing differently that will break down the old. old habits of reaction. The world seems emotionally attached to the value of emotions, and the reactions when I suggest to many that they are not love are strong and defensive, emotional in fact!

        1. Thank heavens for awareness joanchristinecalder, for without it we would still be struggling with emotional dramas and reactions. The deeper I connect with myself and the more awareness I have, supports me in making different choices. Through the teachings of Universal Medicine I now understand who I am, and it is a matter of having the awareness that I do have the freedom to make choices that will evolve me, and hence everyone else, as we are all particles of the same one big ocean, we call the Universe, with no exception.

243. A truly great article Joan for so many people are controlled by their emotions and their reactions to them. It is so very liberating to actually be offered a true way to actually release them rather than having to relive or bury them… therefore allowing us to be able to participate in our own healing and evolution. From a therapeutic perspective alone, what Universal Medicine offers is absolutely incomparable and leaves cathartic based therapy as an unnecessary thing of the past.

     1. Sam I couldn’t agree with you more, that people are controlled by their emotions and their reactions. It is so easy for us to relive them or bury them, both these ways ensure that they are not healed nor able to foster evolution.

     2. Samantha absolutely what Universal Medicine has offered us cannot be compared. There is no therapy that works in this way, allowing us to participate in our own healing and evolution. The world is full of so many people caught in emotions and reactions, and not understand why their lives are full of dramas.

244. Reading this again today Joan I am struck by the depth of truth in your words. I am sensing more and more in my observation of myself and others how much this addiction to drama, which is having ourselves and our life experience be bigger and more important than anything else, is so prevalent in our daily living. Indulging in this is a modern day plague, we are encouraged in this everywhere in the media. Blogs like yours are so important to share so that we can all can connect to a life that is true – if we so choose.

245. Joan, I think there is a little or big “drama queen” in all of us. Emotions are not bad things, they are just super harmful to the body if they are left to takeover or indulged in. Nowadays I observe them and use them as warning signs to a hurt that I do not want to deal with – so as soon as I feel an emotion, I automatically know it is my next opportunity to heal. Great blog Joan, thank-you.

246. And the Love continues; forever and always; how divine and precious.
     I enjoyed reading your blog Joan as it gave me a deeper understanding and appreciation of an-others background and experiences.
     Also an appreciation of the amazing transformation you have made; let the love continue.

247. This is a brilliant blog Joan. As our society is mostly run on emotions and we are mostly being met though our emotions – through media, music and advertising and in our day to day interactions with people in our lives. I have observed and have become aware how emotions affect me and my body and how driven to exhaustion though anxiety I was. That when I react to a situation emotionally my body floods with an excitement or panic and I can feel it becomes tense. I now realise that at this point I have the opportunity to go deeper and feel what is truly going on. What am I truly feeling? And I then have a choice to respond in truth and express what I truly feel or not. This has been a huge journey for me and through the presentations of Universal Medicine and the support of Universal Medicine practitioners I have developed a deeper connection to my truth, my body, my essence and have become more and more aware of the choice I have to respond with what I am truly feeling rather than emotionally react to avoid feeling and expressing the truth that I feel.

     1. So true Carola, I am noticing more and more how other people’s emotions affect me, and as you say, it is around us all the time and accepted as the way to live. To be able to step back and create space and ask that important question “What is going on here?” in each of us and between us, creates the opportunity to deepen a relationship with ourselves and the other. Emotions can be so forceful when they come at us strongly and sometimes very hard not to engage with them. I have also found that when I do and then realise I have reacted in the same energy, it is not too late to change the energy and respond with gentleness and love and truth, and then the whole tension of the situation is released, the emotions start to dissipate, and the other and I have the space to deal with the issues with clarity. Of course it is more loving to not react in the first place, but it is all a gradual learning, as the whole of humanity seems reliant on emotions for their identity. We live in an ocean of emotions, rather than the truth of living in the ocean of the One Soul.

248. Joan, this is how most people live their lives, and we wonder why there is endemic exhaustion, obesity and anxiety/depression? Our emotions when allowed to take free reign can run our bodies into the ground. I love what you expressed about how you talk to yourself and say ‘this is not a drama’. I find myself saying that or similar quite a lot as I know whenever something is feeling dramatic, it really does not need to be. There is great simplicity in feeling what it is actually about, rather than reacting.

249. I used to use my emotions, rather than truly feel, in order to think I was really experiencing life, rather than feel the emptiness that was actually there. Indeed I used to think that emotions and feelings were the same thing. How wrong was I! Now I love simplicity, rather than the dramas and complexity of emotion, which can be so draining.

250. Letting go of dramas is opening up a new perspective for me. One with deeper understanding and an ability to accept and appreciate myself more than I have ever imagined.

251. You describe an emotion as “..an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” It is easy to get hooked into the dramas and emotions of everyday life, and this is a way of being kept from appreciating and expressing who we truly are.

252. Joan thank you for bring the truth about therapies that are cathartic and get you to re-live the emotions again, and that they just bury our hurts on a deeper level.
     I spent most of my life doing these sort of cathartic therapies and nothing changed in fact I was worse off. It wasn’t until I came across the work of Universal Medicine that the true healing began, for this I am eternally grateful.

253. “By continually observing the quality of my body, letting the feelings surface and then choosing not to indulge in any emotions that arise in reaction to them, there is no need for a catharsis which takes me away from myself, suppresses the feelings again and locks the emotions in my body.”- great advice to avoid indulging in your emotions.
     And knowing that the emotions or pain that may come up, does not define us.

254. Joan, as a fellow student of Universal medicine, I have also “”learned there is another way that is infinitely more transforming, rewarding and lasting than the emotion-laden life I was living” before I met Serge Benhayon and started to attend his presentations. As I discovered Serge and the Ageless Wisdom teachings rather late in life, I can attest to the fact that it is never too late to make more loving choices in one’s life. Like you, “I have more vitality than I did ten years ago” and life continues to become more glorious with each day.

     1. Dear Anne, you have taken the words from my mouth. Exactly. It’s never too late to say ‘no’ to the emotion-laden life and build those muscles of loving detachment and observation. I am slowly but surely mastering that very thing and only last week established an understanding even more deeply within myself that is enabling me to be more philosophical about life – philosophical in its truest, most loving sense. Drama is dreary!

        1. Drama is dreary! I like that, and I would add ‘boring!’ Been there, done that, no more drama. And if I catch myself indulging, and going into old dramas I ask myself what is going on and address it before it takes a hold on me, because what is the point anyway. Going into dramas just delays evolution and the point of life is to evolve back to who we truly are, is it not.

255. I love this article as I continue to be amazed how often I dive into fix it, explore it, change it mode…any mode that ensures the ‘it’ that is the problem grows, leaving the ‘it’ that is me, silently waiting for me to get ‘it’!

256. “I loved going to the theatre and the opera to watch and experience others acting out all the human emotions. I listened to music emotionally and viewed art the same way. Somehow I felt it helped me to identify myself and feel connected to others. I would enjoy the buzz it gave me, feel “fantastic” but then mostly end up drained afterwards, so then I would seek more of the same. This encouraged my volatile roller coaster existence, which I thought was natural.” – I can relate to what you share here Joan, I was addicted to soaps and dramas on TV.

257. The line you wrote “Thirteen years of therapy and re-living my past through re-experiencing it emotionally changed nothing; ” really says so much and I am sure what many of us can relate to, I certainly can. Re-living the past through emotionally explaining the ‘story’ time and again, just elicits drama and emotion. That can be addictive and so common place, yet not seen as being toxic and totally unhelpful. It does not bring the relief that one really is looking for or to not feel what is really going on. Then to begin to connect to who you truly are, feeling that essence, it one of the most magical and ‘non’ emotional things in the world.

     1. Your last sentence Raegan is about something very significant — about beginning to connect to ourselves and feel our essence is “non” emotional. It can be very easy for us (and I know I experience this often), to have an emotional reaction when we do make that magical connection, and so then we immediately lose it because we have made something big and grand and dramatic out of it, whereas it is really just “normal”, by which I mean we can be in touch with it all the time and live from it, so there is no drama. If we are continually searching for it then we can react emotionally to the finding of it with delight, (which when you look at the word broken down is to de-light), whereas it is there just waiting for us to get out of the way and connect.

258. Joan I recognise myself in the drama queen, “relieving of emotional tensions by continuously reliving the experience emotionally through the body and even acting it out physically”. I recognise this now as indulging myself. I had mistaken emotions for feelings. This is a great blog Joan, one that I will revisit when I slip and and wrap myself up in emotions.

259. Joan the awareness you share here is quite profound as it exposes the way in which, as a society, we have learnt to use emotions and catharsis as a means of not truly feeling the truth of what we are choosing. It exposes that this truth requires each of us to take responsibility for our choices, and to look deeper into the way in which we choose to live our day. From reading your words it is evident this is indeed an ancient wisdom that has been around for eons just waiting for those who are ready to apply and live what has been presented. It feels so timely that Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon have again brought this wisdom to our attention, it is now up to each of us to decide if this is the way forth from here.

260. Joan, you are so amazing to have come to this awareness. The freedom that comes from getting off of an emotional roller coaster is a celebration of the whole body and mind, as I can feel in your sharing.

261. Working in the artistic fields, I know there is a strong belief that art and performance has to ignite deep emotional responses in the audience, and only then is art considered powerful or successful.
     Emotions keep us from expressing our true selves and they keep anyone (ourselves and audience alike) from seeing who we truly are.
     When “good” art is created from a foundation to hide, has creating art ever been true?

262. This blog has been great to re-read. It clearly identifies the trap our emotions hold us in if we feed them. How you are living now Joan is a testament to your commitment to life and living you in full. The quagmire you describe that exists when we buy into an emotional life and think “This is it!” is a massive attachment to free oneself of.

263. Thank you Joan for your blog on how you lived your life and how that has changed. I loved playing the ‘drama queen’, I loved the excitement of the highs and the sympathy that the lows created. What I didn’t love was the constant exhaustion. Attending Universal Medicine presentations and workshops allowed me to understand the relation between the two: drama queen and exhaustion. If I find myself in an emotion that wants to play out a story, in the old drama queen mode, I allow myself to be aware of it, feel it and let it go. Now I have far more energy to put into things that truly matter.

264. Our emotions make us sick and keep us imprisoned, as you so rightly explain and illustrate. And eventually this will be known by all, no matter how much we might think we thrive on them or that they make us ‘come alive’ in some way. Being emotional is an addiction.

     1. Yes emotions are highly addictive and deeply normalised to the point that if we start master our emotions and have few reactions to them we are can be seen is robot likeand without feeling. But that is so far from the truth…

     2. Yes emotions are highly addictive and deeply normalised to the point that if we start to master our emotions and have few reactions to them, we are sometimes seen as robot-like and without feeling. But that is so far from the truth…

265. Joan…this line jumped out for me today “Through my study with Universal Medicine I began to understand how attachment to, and indulgence in, emotions causes our illnesses.” I became very ill after years of being on an emotional roller coaster in and out of relationships, until finally my body said ‘enough, time to change’, and change I have through the inspiration of Universal Medicine, the loving support of many and commitment to myself.

266. I feel I must have been brought up without emotions, to the extent that I have been told I am completely unemotional. I didn’t realise how lucky I was.
     I didn’t realise that Socrates and Jesus “were condemned to death for questioning the value of accepted beliefs and for teaching that we all have responsibility for our own healing”. Thanks for that.

     1. What do you mean Nick, when you say without emotions? and what do you feel yourself, are the other people right, do you feel that is true, and how do you feel this came about? I feel there is something very interesting here to explore and could benefit all of us.

        1. I agree Joan – it would be really interesting to explore what Nick means by being ‘brought up without emotions.’

267. I used to be so in the ‘drama’ of my existence I so often missed the truth of how I was feeling and I know now that I addicted to that ‘drama’ as a way to distract and occupy myself instead of feeling the truth of how I felt about my life. when every I am getting back into drama now, I know there is something underlying that I am trying not to feel. Love this blog.

268. Unless we change the platform changes from where we speak it doesn’t really matter what we say, it will still be from the same place. I can speak calmly and softly and even nicely and still be full of anger and hurt, and this is what people feel. Unless the anger and hurt is truly healed it stays with us and impacts on everything. I know my children have taught this to me more than anyone. At times I think I have dealt with an issue yet their response will still be the same, which means I might be saying something differently but no true healing has taken place as I am still coming from the same platform. When an issue is dealt with the reactions from the people around me are completely different.

     1. That is a great point Nicole, and so beautiful how you recognise the reflection of your energy from your children. I feel this is where it is so important to feel the energy beneath the words, in ourselves and in others, otherwise we are a prey to our own and other people’s emotional states that can draw us in and influence us. Life is a continual presenting of reflections for us, but we can only change them if we feel what is underlying what is being presented to us.

        1. Thanks joanchristiinecalder, beautifully said

269. Thank you, I have gained a better understanding of my emotions and why they keep coming up. I hadn’t actually put it together that the emotion was an escape from me feeling the true underlying feeling and connection with me, becoming overwhelmed in emotion when I don’t want to see or feel the true hurt that is there. Great.

270. I love this comment Tony, that we all take up drama sometime in our career, and we can even make up dramas if there is nothing happening, and Joan you have written for everyone here, how transformational and liberating it is to live a life with more awareness and grace, as shown to us by the Ageless Wisdom.

271. Joan as you say how very thankful you are to have been around the work of Universal Medicine, I can completely understand and am very grateful for as well. To be able to have the opportunity to see that the way we have been living hasn’t been with Love. That there is another way of living that supports us to be in and with our bodies. To honour, nurture and love ourselves to the deepest core. This is a way of living that needs to be celebrated.

272. So true, Oliver, we create losing battles for ourselves all the time by being attached to how we want things to be or resolve. Usually there is a huge emotional attachment to the outcome.

273. When you said you took up drama as a career, I laughed as I think we all take up this career at some point in our lives but most of us don’t get paid. Society is set up to play with our emotions.

     1. Hahaha, so true tonysteenson. I would have been a squillionairre had I been paid for all my drama!

274. A lot of the time we use dramas and being emotional as a way to manage life because as long as we are in it, we are not allowing ourselves to feel what’s there to be felt, so it’s easier to indulge rather than just allow ourselves to feel what is there to be felt without judgement and move on. Simple no dramas at all.

275. I always tried to care for everybody else and totally neglected to care for myself. By doing that, my care for others has often been imposing and manipulating, and in truth was only given to make myself feel better and worthy. What I realised, is that the first and foremost the thing is to care for me in a loving and supportive way, and then I will be able to truly support others. As I am not imposing on them, but offer them a reflection of what living love and self-care does mean and of the changes possible by that.

276. I guess one of the greatest problems with always trying to get things right, is the fact that inevitably you are going to be wrong, or at least make a mistake – that frame of mind is a losing battle, so just surrender to your way, accept and love yourself and enjoy life without the emotional turmoil this brings.

277. I have noticed too that the drama in life has an adrenalin buzz to it and can easily become addictive…is that why soap operas are so popular?
     This is the same buzz that we get when we react to something rather than staying centred in ourselves and feeling the amazing truth of a situation.
     The simplicity, spaciousness, healing and joy in your life now, is palpable in your sharing.
     Thank you Joan.

     1. Yes I agree elainearthey, there is an addictive quality to emotions. When we share a story with someone from emotion and they go into their reaction, we feed off that. It’s like a big feeding frenzy that temporarily fills us up (like sugar or junk food does) and then leaves us to crash and seek more. It’s exhausting.

278. Wow Joan what a great sharing. I also thought that emotions were feelings. Not anymore thanks to Serge Benhayon, the Universal Medicine workshops and sessions with esoteric practitioners. I love what you revealed about Aristotle and Freud. Why did we allow ourselves to be misled down that path instead of staying with the teachings of Socrates, Jesus and the Ageless Wisdom where true truth resides?

279. Joan, thank you for exposing the falsehood of emotions and how much we think emotions are a ‘natural’ part of being human. But they are not, they are just something we use to not have to see what there is to see. If we let go of emotions and allowed us to feel what there is to feel life would become super simple, super joyful and skyrocketing in efficiency.

     1. Well said Esther. In the past we have thought of emotions being a ‘natural’ part of being human. But what a sticky web they weave. This was brought home yet again to me when a colleague tried to ‘dump’ on me about someone else recently. I could see even more clearly how they ( and we if it is happening with us) were actually enjoying the tirade at some level and what it was doing to the state of their body .

        1. I agree Lyndy, I used to feel so satisfied as I burst out into an angry tirade, or bemoaned my fate in paroxysms of grief, and yes, actually enjoying it and thinking i was doing myself good and also that this was feeling deeply, (what we are meant to do, right?) What an illusion, and somewhere inside me I knew it was, as later I would start to feel embarrassed and ashamed, and always resolved to change the pattern, but this did not happen till I met Serge Benhayon and found out the truth.

        2. I can so relate to what you say Joan. Earlier in my life I was often accused of being ‘too joyful’ – people hated it, and so I calibrated to fit in and be liked and began to complain and dump like everyone around me. I began to enjoy doing this! I also realise as I write that there was a certain amount of jealousy in the way I was attacked for not complaining about my life. I was protecting myself from this dire energy by calibrating and moaning about life. Then I convinced myself that was the way to go! Ridiculous.

280. Joan I can relate to ‘I continually worried about getting things right’. but what i have come to realise is that sometimes what appears to be not what I would have considered to be ‘right’ actually holds so much learning for me I can’t help but wonder if it wasn’t the ‘right’ thing to happen after all.

281. I used to think if I didn’t get the lows I wouldn’t get the highs of the emotional existence. I also loved the dramas of the emotional existence and lived on them like I was surfing in the waves. How amazing it is to have let go of all that. I thought that going deep into myself was to talk about the dramas, but being deep is so much more of being myself and trusting that I am everything I need.
     Joan, your blog is an awesome account of how living the emotional life does not serve. It is awesome that we have come so far. I would also like to acknowledge the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine as having inspired me to know that all I need to be is already within me and that nothing beats the absolute joy of being me.

282. This is such an important and life changing distinction you are highlighting here Joan – I know this game also – how I was lead in the past to believe that going into my emotions, ‘feeling’ and expressing them, was a way to healing and connection. When in fact, as you so accurately say here, “…it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” …and consequently others. That’s the game, we think we’re escaping, but we’re only setting ourselves back, putting off further what we must feel in our bodies to truly heal and connect with others.

     1. Yes, I can relate to this in the past too. It is lovely to have understanding, connection and harmony now.

283. I once attended a workshop with a someone who had apparently become ‘enlightened’ at Osho’s ashram in India – I went to try to understand this whole guru enlightenment thing. One of the catharsis exercises they instigated was to jump up and down releasing all the anger and rage you could summon up from deep inside. I was stunned and felt the full force of the person next to me blasting me with a massive wave of pure anger and venom. This was echoed all around by 20 other people – I was so alarmed, I got a very strong message to just get out of there – so I quietly disappeared, running down to the sea to jump in (even though this was Finland!) It felt better but it totally rattled me. It just didn’t seem right, and I’m not the hippie type, but I even felt sorry for the ground that was having to take such a battering. Having now come across the teachings of Universal Medicine, it confirms what I felt was true, that this wasn’t really helping anyone heal, only creating more disharmony and chaos in a world that has too much already.

     1. Gosh Annie, that sounds intense (and I agree – very alarming!). It is an extremely aggressive way of dealing with issues and expressing how you feel, one that must totally disconnect you from your body!

        1. And for many I feel this way has become the ‘norm’ gone are the days where we seem to actually express how we feel and instead reaction, reaction, reaction seems to be the way it is being done, imagine a world where we expressed what we actually felt not in reaction but instead just in conversation what would that mean for us all and our relationships with ourselves and others alike?

        2. It’s that weird way of thinking that is found in many cathartic techniques. The thought is about likening ourselves to an empty vessel that has been filled with something that we don’t want and therefore needs to get out, so the only way to get that stuff out is to put in loads of it all at one time which will flush it out and you will feel better. The problem is that you do, and there is relief for a little while at least, so you think that it has worked. But it does not look at why it was put in there in the first place and the way you have been living to get you to that point.
           What I have learned from Serge Benhayon is that we are never empty, we are always full of something whether that is something we have chosen or something we have just allowed to be. I was a really angry person for a long time, and the true release of that anger came not from shouting and screaming and “letting it all out”, but from feeling what was truly going on with my anger and what was lying beneath it that I was trying to cover up by being angry.

     2. I think I would have done exactly the same thing Annie, run for the sea! Since attending Universal Medicine I have come to understand that all my emotional reactions create disharmony in my body… this understanding comes from me now feeling it instantly when I do go into this. Sometimes I still have moments like this where I react but the more I am actually feeling the impact that it has on my body the more I choose not to go into the reaction as the dis-harmony stands out like a sore thumb.

284. Joan, what you write about here should be prescribed reading for all. As you say, once we understand how we can change issues so that they do not come back. . . ‘… unless I start choosing them again’ is so empowering. ‘By continually observing the quality of our bodies, letting the feelings surface and then choosing not to indulge in any emotions that arise in reaction to them’ we can heal our issues. It is always a matter of choice!

285. Eight years ago it would not have occurred to me to not get involved in drama of my own making or others, it just seemed that’s what you do and that’s how it is. But I have come to learn that by choosing to stay in the drama is not only harming myself but those around me also and that it is within our power to say no to internal and external dramas. It is very much our choice.

286. Realising the difference between feelings and emotions was revelatory and immensely freeing for me, as I had always felt the devastation of emotions in my body but had not known how to identify them. And I know now how important it is to honour my feelings. Thank you Serge Benhayon.

     1. I had the same experience Jenny, it was so revelatory for me to understand that feelings and emotions are two very different things. To discover that my emotions were in fact my reaction to feelings I didn’t want to feel freed me enormously. I had wide swings in behaviour in the past and felt as though I was on an uncontrolled roller coaster at times. So good to be free of that and feeling more instead, the loving and steady connection with my soul.

        1. Yes Jeanette, now understanding the difference between emotions and feelings, ’emotions were in fact my reaction to feelings I didn’t want to feel’, is so liberating and healing.

287. Our voices are a great indication of where we are at and emotions can be easily felt if we hone our ears to a deeper than usual awareness. This can really support us in detecting when we have left ourselves without realising and coming from a place of hurt or reaction of some kind.

     1. That is so true Elaine, this is something that in the past I would pretend I wouldn’t hear and continue in a way of expressing that is in some sort of emotion – not expressing from a place that is in connection to my soul. It feels and sounds complete different when I am coming from this connection first.

288. The simplicity of connecting to our innermost and allowing ourselves to live our lives from the understanding that it is not about what we do but how we are in relationship with ourselves in all that we do.
     Quality not quantity!
     Thank you Joan I have understood that addictions come in many guises and can now clearly see how drama and the emotion attached to it have slipped beneath my ‘addiction radar!”

289. Thank you Joan for ‘outing’ the drama queen. It’s interesting but I never considered myself a drama queen until recently. I managed to control my life so well that I could avoid most things that would have headed me in the direction of anything too emotional, keeping a tight rein on what I would and would not allow into my life. As I have gradually let go of this control I have become aware of how much I have played the emotional game, thinking that some how these were feelings. Playing the emotional game keeps me distracted from taking responsibility for the things that happen in my life as there is always something or someone to blame.

290. Emotions and drama are but a distraction. A distraction to not feel what is truly going on, and how simple life is if we only choose to honestly look at the fact that every situation in life is but a reflection for us to learn from. If there is something we don’t like about our lives it is only ourselves who can make the changes that are necessary. Once we truly grasp this we will see the responsibility we have, but above all the amazing freedom, love and joy that life truly is.

     1. Beautifully expressed Michael, indeed emotions and dramas keep us playing the game of being small and never allow us to see the beauty and joy that life truly is.

        1. Oh yes! Once out of the confining box of emotion and drama there is freedom to express fully the love that we are.

     2. That was so clearly said Michael. ’emotions and drama are but a distraction’. I’m even noticing the more subtle dramas we play out in our day to day lives. The dramas that people might not call dramas, for example, mild disagreements and hiccups we create to ensure we avoid connecting even more deeply with ourselves.

291. I am also beginning to understand how attachment to and indulgence in emotions causes our illnesses, and how we have been encourage to indulge more into our emotions over the past 30 years. We’re encouraged to get it out, express with that emotion in society, but then we feel the affects of holding the emotion and going into the drama. There is a science to prove this affect that will develop and grow, but you are ahead of the game, Joan.

     1. ‘We are encouraged to get it out, express with that emotion in society’. Spot on Gill. I hear people say that we should ‘speak our truth’. But what truth is that? Often it is just another way of ‘speaking the hurt’. Then everybody gets the drama and emotion and nothing gets resolved.

        1. I love the way Joan turns it around – “I say to myself “don’t make a drama out of this” and I turn my attention to what matters.” – So true, great advice.

     2. Yes she is ahead of the game for sure, and how simple was it for her to turn that all around, very inspiring.

292. What strikes me about your story Joan is that you say ‘I thought I was enjoying it all’. It’s interesting that we can get stuck in a life of drama, think we are enjoying it, not even know that this is what is exhausting us, and effectively miss out on the beauty that is possible when we live life without it. You did not know any other way until you stopped to feel what was truly going on. This must be the case for so many people who do not know any other way.

     1. Absolutely, Rebecca. Then there is the flip side of those who get hooked on drama of the misery of life, and are convinced that this is ‘just the way life is for me’ and do not allow themselves to feel that there is a choice to be made.

        1. Once we realise that there is a choice then we can let go of the emotional dramas. Realising this for me is the beginning of the end of the Drama Queen, a role I have played many times in the past, believing that this was me. Indulging in emotional dramas is something that I am choosing not to do anymore and everyone around me is breathing a sigh of relief, including myself! I agree also, emotional drama is very addictive and something that can so easily hook you in.

     2. Yes I can so relate to the “I thought I was enjoying it all”, I used to live from one drama to the next , always going crazy about something. While I am not perfect, I am so willing to let go of drama and to just let things be. This has improved my quality of life enormously,
        With love
        Felicity

     3. So very true Rebecca, so many of us believe that emotional drama gives us a sense of worth, that there is attention directed at us, ultimately a form of attention and recognition seeking. Whether we perform this drama on stage or off, we think we are being seen and met, and being truly met is what we all yearn–but when we express through emotion and drama, are we first true to ourselves and are we true in expressing to others? And what general quality of response do we get from what we put out?

     4. I agree Rebecca, I find drama can be very “hooking” and I can lead myself to believe that I enjoy it but by the end or when I come out of it I can feel how exhausted and out of connection I feel with myself and I realise that there is no way I can truly enjoy that.

        1. Yes yes. Yes Oliver, yes Rebecca. Drama is exhausting even though you imagine it has been interesting or enjoyable. There is not one ounce of joy in drama, only a faint, weak substitute for living life to the full. If I go into drama now I feel like I have a hangover the next morning. My body is telling me that drama is not your and it is not worth it.

293. Re-reading this Joan it is a great article. I know what being a drama queen is all about and as I let go of that I realised it was the more subtle Drama Queen moments that were the most damaging. For example, showing a proposed piece of work and a suggested amendment would have an immediate reaction of me that the whole thing was no good. Which is just a game to keep myself small.

     1. Well spotted Vanessa. I found myself playing the game and keeping myself small too recently. I was talking to a friend about how committed I was feeling and how great I felt and I found myself starting to go into “well maybe I won’t be able to keep it up…”, I realised later that I was keeping myself small to make her feel better about herself.
        Once I realised what I had done I began to appreciate myself for my observation because me keeping myself small doesn’t benefit anyone, least of all myself, what a drama!

294. How much better is life without the emotions and the dramas, Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon are certainly showing us the way

295. Feeding off drama, that must make us all pretty good actors. As I can be in a heated discussion and a part of me knows how to defuse the situation, however I continue. Although there could be other reasons to why I choose to continue, it is also a flying high feeling that a part of me chooses.

296. It’s so interesting that we think that sparking the emotions as a reaction to entertainment etc, means that is has been successful, and then also recognising that we feel drained or exhausted after these events. This is a pattern that we in society have followed, whether it be watching a TV show, a movie, buying a birthday card, to watching the children playing soccer. I have even noticed that when buying a birthday card for someone it is hard to find one that doesn’t pander to the emotions.

297. As I read your blog Joan I could feel areas in my life that I make into dramas, even so subtly (or not so subtly) it is there. I recognised that I make it about the other person, the dramas that they are bringing to be, however in truth, I have a choice as to whether to enjoin that drama or accept that that is what the other person is choosing and connect back to me and allow. A lovely supportive reminder, thank you Joan.

298. The following sentence struck a chord with me. ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.’ So spot on. While I still have emotional reactions, I certainly have come a long away from the spinning ball of emotions I used to be when I first started as a student of Universal Medicine.

299. Your whole blog is gold Joan, today this part stood out ‘I would have an emotional reaction to any feelings that surfaced in order to protect myself further from the pain and then I would identify with and indulge in that emotion, thinking it was the feeling, but it wasn’t.’ I thought emotions were feelings and I was living through and with emotions all of the time not only from myself but from everyone around me until I came across the Ageless Wisdom presented by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. Living through and with emotions is devastating and when I look at society right now it seems we are being forced to stay in this way of living and this way is not true. The love and joy I feel in me everyday are confirming me in the Way of the Livingness.

300. Joan, I really enjoyed reading your story. I had explored many healing modalities and workshops that incorporate some form of catharsis as a means to heal emotional trauma. Based on how I would be left feeling I could have sworn that they worked but as I continued to discover over and over, the underlying emotional issue had not been dealt with at all. Following my experience with the Universal Medicine Esoteric Healing modalities and the ongoing personal change that came from them, it became clear and obvious that all the modalities I had explored prior did little more than “relieve” the tension and give me a “high”… but no true healing had actually taken place.

301. Joan, it has been simply gorgeous to observe the changes in you over the past few years when we have met at Universal Medicine presentations (which inspire us all to let go of drama in our lives). A shining example for those in their ‘more mature years’ – age is irrelevant – you are as a rose coming into bloom.

302. I walk with you Joan.

303. I love how part of being able to appreciate the great life that you have now is to recognise with honesty how it was before, with all the drama, exhaustion, and relationships that felt as though they could be so much deeper. This honesty is astonishing and very refreshing.

304. Stopping and letting go of the drama and emotion in life is key to connecting and being with oneself consistently. I have worked on this since attending Universal Medicine and have noticed a huge change in the way I feel and not being so drained and exhausted from it.

305. ‘I continually worried about getting things right, which was a horrible way to spend my life.’ How many of us allow this constant mental chatter to hold us back from truly expressing who we are? We are truly amazing, with the most extraordinary gifts of expression, but they way we are educated means we are always looking at our faults instead of appreciating our glory. Changing this means developing a constant stream of appreciation and self-love, not something that is generally encouraged, but feels great when we do.

     1. Beautifully expressed Carmel, self appreciation and self love are so underestimated and so necessary if we are to move from our emotional way of being in the world. Like Joan has expressed, all we seek is already within us. This is truly profound and world changing.

     2. I am discovering how much drama there is in the “constant mental chatter”, Carmel. It rouses up the emotions, causes confusion, separates us from ourselves. Connecting back to the love and truth we are within shows it up for what it is. It is like little pin pricks trying to stimulate an emotional reaction and create entertainment. They “needle” us, causing disturbance and query and doubt, making it obvious they come from the outside, not from the warm, alive, vitality inside that, if we choose it, sees them for just what they are so that they cannot play out in our lives.

306. A very simple question to ask ourselves; are we healing or harming ourselves or others. Your blog Joan is beautiful reminder of self responsibity
     Thank you.

307. I have been really aware over the past few days the little tiny pockets of how I try to call drama in – these have stood out really clearly. In these moments I have stopped and asked myself a question, such as, are you just creating drama here, and my body so loudly and clearly shares ‘yes’. Okay I say – and I move on. I have also been very aware in this how drama with myself and others has been a need for attention, a way of looking for love. I have not been allowing myself to be still, feel, honour and love myself deeply enough, and with that comes the seeking outside my self for love. When really everything I could ever want and all the love and joy in the world is inside of me.

308. “The one thing I can trust is my inner essence” . This line really stood out for me today. I know with absolute solidness and truth this is the now thing that will not lead me astray.

309. It’s incredible what we do to avoid feeling emotions, or to evoke a supposedly good one. The only problem with such behaviour is, everything – for we are continually in perpetual motion of reaction as supported by this quote: “I continually worried about getting things right, which was a horrible way to spend my life.”

310. Funny, when I started reading your blog, Joan, I was thinking ‘This is not me, I’m not into all that drama stuff’, but then a deeper level of honesty kicked in. For me the drama is not the raise-your-hands-in-exasperation-talking-about-it-with-your-friends kind, but the more insidious kind, where the emotion seeps in, like getting frustrated or taking on board people’s emotions at work, going into sympathy, trying to ‘save’ others etc. That is all part of the same drama cycle and it is deeply draining. Thank you for putting this out there and for expressing with such truth that I could unlock my own.

     1. Yes, Jenifer, I am finding more and more aspects of “drama” in my life since I wrote the article. It is insidious, and of course is inherent in every emotional reaction. The more I feel that the deeper layers of it I discover, and I am sure there are many yet unearthed. But now I can recognise it when it happens, and so the work goes on, day by day, and the beauty of it is I feel so much clearer and less affected by my own and other people’s dramas.

311. I can recognise the wanting to get things right and the dramas that ensue, they can become all consuming and totally out of proportion to what I had initially got wrong. I also know this is a distraction from looking deeper as to why I got it wrong and my reaction to it…the drama takes over instead of stopping and feeling the situation and being honest with why it happened

     1. I love your comment Alison. I have certainly had an penchant for catapulting mistakes out of all proportion. When I make a mistake the loving thing to do is acknowledge it and be honest about its effects and how I came to make that mistake so I can make a different choice next time. I don’t have to be a bad person for the rest of my life or constantly be trying to make up for it – all that just adds to the drama and serves no-one.

312. So true Ariana. Sitting with a group of co workers during lunchtime in a tea room exposes the cop out and distraction and that many are waiting to be entertained by it all. Drama is like a numbing drug and it allows us to not feel the emptiness and distracts us into feeling we are a part of something full of life. When in reality it seperates us from the truth of who we are.

313. Our emotional reactions are such a mask for our true feelings. It always helps me to see that the emotion is just a huge distraction. Replaying the ‘situation’ in the mind is really just stubbornly indulging in the emotion. It appears like we are ‘working something out’ but it only takes us further away. Being present with the moment we are in allows us to feel our truth again and then from there receive the awareness that is needed.

     1. Thank you Vicky, this is something I will take into my day

     2. Amazingly well said Vicky. Yes I use the excuse of ‘working something out’ which simply keeps me in my head. It is pure indulgence and keeps me away from the simplicity of being in the present moment.

     3. Beautiful Vickey! You put on top what emotions ride us to: the past. They hold us back in the hurts and protections not willing to let us live in the moment, the absolute presence.

314. Well said Joan, again another of the red herrings of the current era’s quiver full of dysfunctional healing arrows sent off in all directions with the hope of effecting healing is brought to task. In fact the irony is that it is in the antithesis of catharsis, the gentle breath, that we find the doorway to true healing, in the rhythm and connection that lies within us all, so delicate and so beautiful.

     1. Beautifully expressed cjames2012!

315. Think about it, don’t put the issue in the forefront to find a solution. Instead approach it from that issue isn’t ‘you’, but rather a behaviour or choice you decide to have in your life. This approach would change a whole deal, to anyone experiencing and feeling like they are a horrible person because it is confirmed that you aren’t a horrible person, far from it. You are only allowing behaviours/choices which give this outcome in your life.

     1. Your truth and perspective is spot on Luke.

316. Great article truly awesome.

317. Being addicted to reactions, encouraging them in life and indulging in them, seeking to cause them in others, are all self destructive traits. Not only draining, but also preventing the loving nature within from being expressed. Great point also about how some ‘therapies’ are about playing out the dramas. This only serves to keep the addiction to them going and has no true responsibility in them. Learning to let go and be loving is not the same as acting them out. The focus is on connection with what we truly are, rather than what we are not.

318. Joan, all that head stuff is just creating drama.
     But knowing I can stop and choose me.
     Is DIVINE.

319. Yes, how emotional the world is. The constant drama and emotions are stimulating us through the day. At the expenses of ourselves. Without us even – consciously – realising. Most of us, that is. How different would the world be if we accept the fact that there is indeed a stillness inside and that we’re here to live from that innermost essence. That’s worth it to explore, isn’t it. Well, it starts with admitting that life’s not life’s ‘fault’. That indeed every single one of us has a choice. To start re-connecting or to be ‘owned’ by the world. My own experience is that it is a bumpy road in the beginning, but definitely worth it. And you know what, the support’s just amazing! Because you’re never on your own and on many, many levels held. Even when you think that there’s no one thinking of or caring about you. There is, always and forever. More than most of us are able to understand, let alone realise.

320. Great sharing Joan Calder. I could feel the healing of this lesson and the healing it offers every one who reads it – a far cry from the story that needs it’s readers to be ‘hooked’ into an emotion in a bid for attention and recognition: when all that is truly needed is true love. I love how you have busted the truth about emotions here: “emotions have become the way of expressing and are viewed as essential and often mistaken for true feeling”. What a way to confuse what we truly feel in our body – our marker of truth – with something that is designed to actually take us away from our truth. A powerful exposition, thank you.

321. I can feel this and appreciate this within myself when I reflect…”I know that just being me by trusting my inner essence and living my life every day in consistency brings a lasting healing.” It is important to take a moment to appreciate the changes and commitment that one makes to healing.

322. Emotions and drama are perfect ways of staying away from the stillness we are deep inside ourselves.
     Just this morning, I could so very clearly feel how it feels in my body, when I am in a moment of stillness and then suddenly let an emotion kick in; it felt as if the stillness and beauty I felt were not there anymore.
     I stopped, saying to myself “Well, this cannot be true, you are still, everything is fine and beautiful, so why should you suddenly feel wrong and hectic, that is absurd”.
     With that I could let go of the emotion, which left like a bursting soap-bubble, to find underneath the stillness that is there in every moment we allow ourselves to feel it.
     Amazing :o)

323. I wonder that no one ever asked what happens to the energy of emotions when we “catharsis” them out of our body. Doesn’t their energy just remain, hanging around until their originator, or another person, actually invites them in again? Emotions don’t just disappear in a magic show, as witnessed by considering places where great violence has occurred: it can still be felt. I am definitely not into catharsis! Learning to connect with one’s feelings, as presented by Universal Medicine, is the way to get off the emotional, cathartic roller coaster.

324. Awesome blog thank you for sharing

325. It can be quite easy to get caught up in ‘drama’ at work. From keeping a focus to be more attentive to myself, I have found I am far less tired and my sleep pattern is much improved.

326. Thank you Joan for reminding me how I used to life my life: full of drama, the highs and the lows, the attention seeking, the emotional roller coaster. Also, thank you for reminding me of how far I have come: to a steadier, more loving me. Aren’t we amazing?

327. Well said, Martin, I had a few cringes as well reading this – I dread to think how much time has been wasted through creating dramas that have had no reality other than in my head. Life is about so much more than this, and to indulge in these kinds of antics serves no-one.

328. It took me a while to get that there was no emotion in true love, as this was all I knew growing up. It seems that we are bombarded with the belief that to prove how much you love is based on how emotional you can get and how deeply you feel that emotion. People do get branded as being ’emotionally retarded’ but could it be that they are choosing not to go into the drama?

     1. True Julie. I nearly fell foul of this when I met my partner – soon to be wife in fact. For a short time I questioned the fact that there was no drama and asked if this was an indication that something was wrong. Thankfully, I realised that this opposite is true. The absence of drama and emotion is a sign of love, even though as you say, we are constantly bombarded with the opposite.

329. Absolutely beautiful Joan – ‘I know where my heart lies,’ says it all.

330. You have expressed yourself so beauty-full here, Joan, I am feeling the stillness you have chosen to embrace as you leave the roller coaster existence behind. I love what you write here, ‘I am learning to take care of myself in a loving way and have become aware that what I was looking for has always been there inside me, I was just not choosing to let go of my old attachments so that I could feel its presence.’ It’s so simple, isn’t it? Choose to let go of our old attachments and we get to feel our presence. Simple, but not easy. Enjoy being in your presence and thank you for sharing!

331. Hello Joan, I can relate to the “roller coaster” as you talk about and the “lows and highs”. It was like I didn’t take any notice of it always happening like this, that my life was a mix of high and then low. It wasn’t until Universal Medicine woke me from sleeping at the wheel that I realised this was happening, I was a mix to what ever was happening in front of me and the world. I had lost myself in the world outside of me and then I was bringing that back inside my head and trying to work out the best way to do the next thing, exhausting. Universal Medicine pointed me back to self responsibility and asked me some questions instead of just giving me the answers. I had to take the lead in what I needed to do for myself, they supported but it was and is always my lead. So the world doesn’t owe me anything nor is it here to give me everything, I already am the everything and so are we all. You just have to choose to connect to it and from there feel where too next. Thank you Joan.

332. I love that I too have stopped that ‘roller coaster existence’ of the highs and lows you describe so well Joan. I no longer feed off all that emotion and drama either, and it’s so releasing. The energy levels rocket without all that stuff.

333. ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” If only this were taught from day-dot; not to forget the effect this would have on relationships, but the onus in art or television etc would be on exploring understanding and deepening inisights, rather than the re-hashing, or exaggerating of second hand emotions. Love this blog.

     1. Brilliantly put Oliver, this should be one of the basic lessons we learn as children, like please and thank you.

334. Thanks Joan, what you have written here is something I can relate to. I spent years thinking catharsis was the way to go, reliving hurts, spewing forth all manner of emotions, only to find nothing changed. Conversely, recent years attending presentations by Serge Benhayon at Universal Medicine events has shown me another way, which is allowing me to return back to the truth of who I am. The proof is the patterns I have let go of and the love that is there now.

     1. Oh the indulgence in the emotions – I know that one. It doesn’t matter how loud or quiet they are, they are still there. What I am now beginning to accept is how quickly these patterns can change – once they are seen of course.

335. yup – I relate to this one!

336. I find it really interesting that often when you talk to people, they will ask you about your day and what they want to know about is the dramas in your life, the gossip and the emotional stories, not whats really going on for us on a deeper level. But that doesn’t stop what is happening on that deeper level from effecting us, so how do we deal with it? Is it possible that all the things we feel in life that we don’t express can cause us to drink to excess, take drugs to numb ourselves etc?

     1. You’re onto it Rebecca. Expressing in full and not holding back fills the body with vitality and love, whereas not expressing ends up making us feel two-dimensional like cardboard cut-outs, no wonder we want to numb that horrible feeling out.

        1. I agree Josephine, and it also builds amazing relationships with other people, and a trust in yourself that when you feel something you can express it and not just push it to one side.

        2. Yes, it does build amazing relationships – as if we are all waiting for someone to connect with us and express honestly from their heart and that is such a relief when someone actually does that and gives permission to open up. So I find most people receive my expression like that and I can have some great conversations in unexpected places.

        3. Josephine, I love that statement, ‘I can have some great conversations in unexpected places’.

        4. I agree Josephine – the number of unexpected conversations I have is ever growing. It is amazing how surprising a person can be if we don’t hold them to an expectation of being less, but just let them be themselves

337. I love that Joan “i know where my heart lies” I may struggle to make it the focus and play games of being connected to it or not, but I most definitely know where it lies – divinity.

     1. That is such a simple and deep comment Vanessa, and describes so well how we DO know where our heart lies but choose to play games. And those games take us further away from ourselves, whereas all we need is to re-connect and find that the divinity is there all the time.

        1. “I know where my heart lies” – “divinity”, is brilliant Thank you ladies.

338. “The one thing I can trust is my inner essence…” spot on Joan, and the only thing that can limit our true potential is to not choose to trust this inner essence. It has taken courage for me to trust my inner feelings, but when I do, I think WOW, I AM amazing and I am learning to appreciate that, and hold onto this feeling and not let the dramas take over to pull me out of my inner essence.

     1. I agree Sandra, if we are not used to trusting our inner essence, it does take courage to start. But once you do, its as you say ‘ amazing’. I have found the more I trust myself, the more confidence I get, which means the more I trust myself. Now thats a circle worth being in!!

339. Well exposed Joan, emotional drama is a no go for love. Interesting that a lot of people are preferring emotional drama to love. In my childhood emotions were taken as love. Like this I also have looked for emotions in order to feel love. This has made my life unhappy and sad because I missed out of true love. What a change today where I understand more and more the truth of love, which has no emotions in it, but a deep dedication to self love and from this foundation love can be expressed to others.

     1. Beautifully put Kirsten, emotions are often confused with love. When we take true love out of the equation we’re left with a sadness.

     2. Beautifully said Kerstin and a great sharing.

     3. Kerstin same here the word emotion and love was intertwined, I would look for the “heart-break” to confirm the “love” always coming up short. What a blessing to be reminded of true love – something that makes sense and feels absolutely true. I never would have considered first you have to be love with yourself before you can love another – yet when I think about it now it’s obvious.

     4. Very well said Kirsten – most people in todays society find it perfectly ok or even natural that love and emotions are going hand in hand. As a consequence they miss out on real Love.

        1. Yes agreed Eva, emotions and real love are definitely not the same thing.

     5. I used to ‘love’ the highs and lows of emotional love. I was actually missing my love and the roller coaster of emotions distracted me from feeling the sadness of missing me.

     6. That is so well said kerstinsalzer15 and it is a dedication to self love that forms the foundation for true love.

     7. “Emotional drama is a no go for love” – this should be a t-shirt, so that everyone gets to read the long and the short of what most people are entangled in. Underneath it all, everyone prefers love, no exceptions.

340. Great blog Joan and reading most of the comments your not alone. Interesting that we have built a life totally caught up in creating situations that don’t actually need to be that way and feeding off the drama and emotion that totally zaps us from our natural vital way of being.

     1. Absolutely true Jane, drama-free life certainly frees up a lot of energy for other more purposeful activities and there is so much more energy available too. Dramas are draining.

     2. Good point Jane – with all the dramas I have created it leaves little space and time for myself – as any time that I say I am ‘recuperating’ (i.e. relaxing from a day filled with self-created stresses), I have gone to TV – for more emotion-filled dramas! Certainly a lot of time spent unnecessarily

        1. Jessica – what a clear map of the mechanics of ‘delay’ and ‘detour’ you have presented here for the traveller, so that they may stay on the true road.

        2. It is strange isn’t it – we watch TV to take a break and relax, yet it just mimicks or exaggerates the drama in our own lives

     3. Yes, emotions and drama are a great numbing tool. When we don’t feel well, some emotions and some drama will make the feeling go away.

     4. yes great point Jane those many many hours that are wasted on going into and feeding the drama’s could be used in so many other ways that actually serve humanity.

341. Thank you for your blog Joan. It is certainly worth celebrating the quality of connection with your inner essence you now enjoy. Nothing short of inspirational. “I feel more in charge of my life, I have a rhythm that is a long way from the roller coaster of drama and emotions I was on in the past”.

342. If we think of what most plays, soap operas, operas, and films are about, they are full of people reacting emotionally to events and to other people, and that makes the plot, and there are endless stories but mostly always the same plot. They are playing out those reactions we all indulge in, in everyday life, and magnifying it on stage. This encourages the audiences to live them again and again as they watch and affirm the fact that it is “normal” and acceptable. The claim is often that they are bringing exposure, but how often do the audience recognise themselves, and where in the drama are they given the opportunity to change? There are many play writers who started to bring some reality to the stage and expose society’s values, yet often they take us through three or four hours of dark drama to feed on, and they are often very emotional plays that can rouse tortuous emotions within.

343. Considering the number of dramas and soap-operas showed on television everywhere and watched by millions, there seem to be a need for constant emotional stimulation. Loving ourselves and loving being with ourselves is a way to end this endless tail chasing.

     1. I appreciate your comment marylinecd. It is so true, from day one we are set up to engage in life like a ‘soap-opera’ and the endless ‘tail chasing’ that follows in the constant seeking to satisfy the resultant emptiness we feel. ‘Loving ourselves and loving being with ourselves’ and with others offers us another way. It doesn’t get much simpler than this.

344. Thank you Joan for a great practical sharing on the difference between emotions and feelings.

345. I learnt to get attention by being a drama queen as a child. I carried this through to adulthood, like you Joan, to not truly feel what was going on and take responsibility. It’s something I notice I still do but as I notice and take responsibility the bumps get smaller and shorter.

346. Our inner essence is rock solid even though it’s pure love. I love leaning on my rock, and sitting on it and just being with my rock as often as I can.

     1. This is gorgeous Matthew. Love is a sold rock that we can come back to when we have been swept away by emotional turmoil. It is always there, and we can always choose it.

     2. Awesome comment Matthew and so true – thank you.

347. I never even considered there was a difference between emotions and feeling until it was presented by Serge Benhayon. By not wanting to feel and deal with our hurts we can tend to go into the reaction of emotion and drama which can be very damaging to ourselves and to others. By choosing to deal with what we truly feel, it gives us the opportunity to know ourselves better and that’s great.

348. Joan – your blog is ground-breaking – emotions are an insidious addiction that can hook you back in time and time again – I have certainly observed this in myself over the years, but like you with great support from Universal Medicine the emotions I now experience are understood for what they are – reactions to things I don’t really want to feel. Your blog makes this point so well and I appreciate its out there for many others to read and know this too.

349. Wow Joan, your blog is a true education thank you. I have to agree that my life is more vital and joy-full now I have seen emotions for what they are. It is true, they can be addictive. I too love having less drama, less emotion and less reaction in my life.

350. I was just like this, ‘I continually worried about getting things right, which was a horrible way to spend my life.’ I was always worrying whether I got something wrong and it was a big issue, like I should never make mistakes. I’m now much less critical of myself, and just let it go,there’s no need to make a drama out of anything. Great read, Joan.

351. This is one of those blogs that I keep coming back to and its like I am reading parts for the first time. This time around I noticed that I experienced something yesterday that you mentioned Joan. About feeling something then in the next split second going into an emotional state – at first a sadness which then instantly flipped into a frustration at myself. I am starting to be more aware that this reaction occurs when I don’t stop and feel. And that when I do stop and actually feel what I am feeling, in the true sense of feeling, it is so far away from the drama that the emotion causes me to go into. There is a steady, no big deal-ness about feeling the entirety of what i’m feeling, which I thought was so far away from me. I am noticing the more I stop and feel the more I am learning to accept the steadiness over the drama. What I can also relate to is that even if I don’t work my problems out there and then, I am starting to ask myself why I need to chose to react and go down that road – if I am gentle with myself I am more willing to face the issue again, and try and get to the bottom of what I am feeling. This slow and gentle approach to my body is already paying off as apposed to the feel – react – emotion – self bash – numb until I can’t but feel truth- repeat cycle.

352. Thanks for sharing Joan. What I have come to realise is that addiction to drama is like the addiction we have to our stories. If we refuse to entertain the story by seeing it as just a story we can get to the crux of the matter. The story is the emotion; we build a story to indulge in to avoid feeling the actual feeling that arose in the first place. All that energy wasted when feeling the feeling in the moment is not even that bad, just needs to be felt.

353. This is such a beautiful blog Joan. I can relate to so much of what you have written – the emotional roller coaster is a familiar ride. I still find I can sometimes stay on the ride even after having identified that this is what I am doing – there can be a stubborness to give up the drama that has been created because of wanting to hang on to the belief that life has to be a struggle, when in fact, I know and have experienced the rest of the time how life flows so beautifully in it’s simplicity. The key here though is the awareness – I find these days I choose to ride the roller coaster far less and for far less time than I did in the past – like you, with deep thanks and gratitude to Universal Medicine. This allows me to feel the space and joy in life.

354. I totally agree Matilda. Pure inspiration.

355. You raise a great point Joan that Drama is addictive. It’s often enjoyed by a group as well as on our own, it is an ingredient in our day. We imagine that if we are engaged emotionally with a person or situation that we’re partaking in life fully. However those emotions actually keep us from being able to engage fully – either with another person or with the situation.

356. Thank you Joan for a very revealing and interesting blog. When you say…”With the ‘stiff upper lip’ disappearing, emotions have become the way of expressing and are viewed as essential and often mistaken for true feeling”, I am reminded of the funeral cortege of Princess Diana and the histrionics of the British public and the media, where I no longer recognised the behaviour of my own fellow citizens. Emotions often seem contrived and insincere but true feeling is unmistakable!

357. Thank you, Rebecca. As much as a cover up for the ‘negative’ things I do want to feel, there are also the times when I make reductive choices so as not to feel something gorgeous.

358. ‘I say to myself “don’t make a drama out of this” and I turn my attention to what matters.’ This is the sweetest most powerful simplicity in words, thank you, Joan.

     1. Such wise words indeed. Imagine the world if we really committed to what this simple sentence asks of us?

359. Thank you Joan for this clarity. This is where modern society has gone wrong, first it was all about not feeling anything at all but staying as stiff and hard as humanly possible. Then with the emergence of the Human Growth Movement the emphasis was put onto feeling but unfortunately the process was focussed only on indulging the emotions and it got stuck there now for a quite long time. Re-living emotions on a daily basis is actually re-traumatising for our bodies and therefore the very opposite of healing and not helpful at all. Once we start recognising the feeling underneath all the emotions, we come back to our bodies. Starting to live and express from our bodies is an amazing experience, it is the first step on our way to fully re-connect to who we truly are. That is the moment, when we get a taste of our innate stillness, joy and harmony and the need for attention through emotional drama simply disappears.

360. I love ‘The one thing I can trust is my inner essence’; just being me and living my life every day with consistency. What a joy.

361. Amazing, Joan. Your blog reminded me of a two day theatre workshop I did years ago which was all about catharsis. In fact, the climax of the two days was standing in front of a line of your fellow participants and yelling at them while they egged you on to get more angry, to swear more, to “let it all out”. Of course, everyone left feeling exhilarated and “lighter”, and we all said that we would keep in touch afterwards. I remember getting together as a group once, only once, and it being a flat, unexciting gathering. Without the extreme drama that we had gone through during the course to create some kind of bond, we had nothing really in common.
     A clear demonstration of how hollow the world of emotions is.

362. Joan what a turn around for you to have experienced and living drama free not doubt your anxious levels are a lot lower if not gone

363. Good for you Joan when you say, “…and I no longer need or even want my weekly thrill of theatre, entertainment, or catharsis as a way of briefly relieving my symptoms”.
     I can add to that list further, television, texting, romantic relationships, food, computer games, retail therapy, projects, hobbies, gossip… all a way to self-medicate to draw attention away from feeling our hurts. In truth, the only way to heal is to go within and face our pain. Once that choice is made then the true work begins, healing ourselves back to who we truly are.
     This is where Universal Medicine comes in, and with the support of Serge Benhayon and the esoteric modalities I have begun my journey of re-turn too, and yes it can be painful and challenging at times, but it can also be awesome and amazing and who would not want to be living a true life as our true self. I know what this looks like because Serge and his family are living, breathing examples of how a living Son of God can be on this Earth. Life does not need to be a struggle, there is a way out of this, and Joan you are an inspiration in showing us that is it entirely possible to free ourselves from the daily dramas and emotional roller-coaster rides of life, all it takes is a little self-love and self-responsibility, and a choice to allow ourselves to feel our hurts.

364. Aristotle has a lot to answer for and so does humanity for choosing and endorsing his way of thinking rather than the Pythagorean lineage represented by Plato which is firmly rooted in and stands for the Ageless Wisdom.

     1. So true, Gabriele. and look what it has led to. It is the easy comfortable option to indulge in emotions that affect our own lives and everyone else’s, rather than take responsibility for our own feelings.

365. Emotions have been something I have found challenging. When I was a child I stopped myself from being aware of what I was feeling emotionally (as a means to cope with being in a world so devoid of people living the Love I knew to be true). If someone asked me what I was feeling emotionally I would just look at them blankly. When I started to have sessions with Universal Medicine practitioners I began to get back in touch with how I was feeling emotionally. This has helped me understand how I have allowed myself to be in the world in a much deeper way. How I have allowed emotions to run the show. Even now, 8 years down the track, I have come to realise that emotions are still playing a role in how I express myself. This time I am realising that I use emotions to distort what I am feeling in my heart. So the purity I feel in my heart gets altered when I speak by expressing through an emotional filter. Through all this learning I know that emotions are not the true way forward. The true way forward is allowing ourselves to express directly from our hearts without filters of any kind.

     1. Thank you for this Robyn. Reading your comment has reminded me of the utter confusion I experienced around emotional situations when I was young. They felt, and in truth still feel just like dense clouds that I cannot make sense of. Distorting what we are truly feeling in our hearts is right.

        1. Yes Richard, I can relate to the feeling of denseness with emotions. When I feel a denseness around my heart this tells me I am being emotional rather than connecting directly to my heart. Also I feel a heaviness when other people are being emotional. It really does feel different to when someone is expressing clearly from their heart and it is so lovely to be able to feel the difference too.

366. Amongst many things I have learned from Serge Benhayon, the difference between feelings and emotions has been such a life-changer. Learning not to buy into emotions and keep my heart open. How freeing that has been!

     1. This is also true for me Dean. Thank you.

367. Thank you Joan for sharing, I can strongly relate to your experience and how Universal Medicine helped me how to stop living a life full of drama and being more present with myself.

368. I love the way you reveal something very fundamental to understanding ourselves and our reactions and emotions – that they come about when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying, often very painful original feeling. I find it sheds light far and wide on other scenarios when I allow myself to feel them.

     1. So true Rosanna, when I am not distracted by the story and emotions of a particular drama or event in my life, I actually have the space and awareness to feel what is really going on in a situation.

     2. This is great Rosanna, drama, emotion all forms of control and avoiding what is felt…

369. Thank you Joan for what you have exposed here. I can certainly relate to the part about being continually worried about getting things right and wanting to be accepted by others is a horrible way to spend life. Yet I assumed that was the way to be, this tension felt horrible, but I got the attention I thought I needed.
     My friends would look forward to my visits as I could always create a ‘good story’ to tell about some intense drama or tragedy I had experienced, and believed this was what people wanted to hear, and yet all it did was perpetuate the endless cycle and bury my feelings deeper. Today I share and express the joy that I feel, without the drama.

370. A great article very inspirational.

371. What a great blog. You so clearly, honestly and powerfully expose what goes on when we are on that roller coast ride of emotions. This line -“I can also see that much of our culture lives and depends on this catharsis which is the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions by continuously reliving the experience emotionally” – really packed a punch this morning. We are SO set up to have these emotions, then feel the need to purge them, then have them again, build it up, purge etc….”. I remember reading a book about stopping smoking and it talked of this cycle – we only have the ‘relief’ of putting a cigarette in our mouths/bodies because we have chosen to smoke in the first place. And that also struck me and stayed with me. When we choose an emotional life, we need this relief and catharsis but when we choose otherwise, we simply don’t. And that energy we used on the emotions is no longer needed. Since also incorporating much of what Universal Medicine has presented, I am learning to step right away from that roller coaster and learn self-love and responsibility. It is pretty awesome.

372. Joan your blog is amazing. It is a testament to yourself, and the choices you have made as well as to Universal Medicine. Universal Medicine has presented the truth, but it is you who have made the choices to turn your life around. This should be truly celebrated, as is shows that we all have the love and power inside us, and we can make those choices for ourselves. With a little support and love from those who have walked a little further along the path, we can turn the mundane into the miraculous.

     1. A beautiful comment to an amazing article.
        “The one thing I can trust is my inner essence” I love this line Joan, so true. Thank you.

373. Great topic Joan. Letting ourselves feel the depth of what we feel without indulging in emotions Is such an ongoing commitment to responsibility.

     1. Exactly what I needed to hear right now. thank you, Vicky.

374. Joan what you have shared here is an inspiration. I can feel the power from which you put words to your inner heart. Thank you for opening that for all to be blessed by.

375. An inspiring blog Joan, thank you for sharing. I can remember when I had a deep attachment to drama as the only way to distract myself away from feeling all the pain and distress in my life. The greater the distress the greater the drama. When I first realised how much this was all harming me I recall missing these ‘high’ moments when I was hooked to the drug of drama to deaden my pain. Gradually as I embraced a more harmonious life I realised that now I could really let go of the pain and enjoy fully the rhythm of a daily life where I am more connected within.

     1. Whilst feeling the real pain is never pleasant, it is so much more healthy that the emotional dance of avoidance we choose instead. It feels like the difference between having clinical yet effective surgery and living life on endlessly numbing medication.

376. I can totally appreciate where you are coming from in this blog, my life was always full of dramas and the highs and lows that go with them, but since incorporating the teachings of Universal Medicine and becoming more self loving, I experience far less drama and emotionally charged situations in my life

     1. I have had a similar experience Joe. Initially I could not imagine a life without drama. But now, the more I let it go the more energy and space I have had available to get on with deeply enjoying it.

377. This is such an awesome blog Joan. So much insight and wisdom from personal experience which has led to so much growth. It feels important to take a moment to stop and appreciate how far you have come.

     1. I agree Rebecca, it is a great blog with insight and wisdom and Joan’s sharing will help many. It is important for Joan to appreciate how far she has come, its so easy to forget to appreciate.

        1. Very true Rebecca and Amita, it is important for Joan to appreciate her journey, her commitment to truly heal and change these life long habits. It takes time, dedication and an open heart and mind to truly look at, feel and take responsibility for all we have chosen for ourselves. When we do miracles can occur and miracles should always be appreciated to the full!

        2. I agree Rebecca and Amita. Seeing the journey Joan has taken in the last few years is like watching a beautiful butterfly emerge from a cocoon. Honesty and truth shine through and it is a joy to know Joan and see how far she has come in the last few years. I didn’t know the drama queen that she said she was but recognise that was part of me too before I attended a workshop by Serge Benhayon!

378. “” I am learning to take care of myself in a loving way and have become aware that what I was looking for has always been there inside me, I was just not choosing to let go of my old attachments so that I could feel its presence.”
     I really appreciate the honesty here Joan – this serves as a reminder to just let go of hurts, anger and so on to allow ourselves to be all that we are, without the fuss and drama.

     1. A great reminder Michelle, I am reading that everywhere today best I pay attention and let go!

379. We are all ever more exposed to drama and sensationalism in life as the world of the internet permeates all our homes. How great to have writing and voices such as these, exposing the perils of letting drama be our modus operandi, and the true choices we have.

     1. So true Matilda, over-reaction, histrionics, exaggerated speech and sensationalism, which always seem to have the completely opposite effect of that which is intended, permeate our lives. How simply refreshing to read these blogs!

380. More and more these days I am beginning to realise when I hold onto reactions and the price paid for not letting go of things, not only by myself physically but by those around me.

     1. That is so significant Julie, about the price paid. There are deeper and deeper levels of holding on, I have just come up against another big lifetime holding on that was underlying all the others. However, this time I am much more aware of not identifying with the pain, and not going into the drama I used to indulge in. I love how this works.

381. Offering children the opportunity to feel that an emotion is not who we truly are but more so a reaction to something we are finding hard to cope with in life is one of the greatest gifts we can give – for it brings back to each and every being the space to stop and feel, to express and communicate and with this flow we cannot help but feel who we truly are.

     There are only two choices – to shut down in reaction – or to express our truth. The more we express and support others to also express, the clearer the air for all of humanity.

     1. I love how you have expressed your comment Clare. The words that stood out for me are “The more we express and support others to also express, the clearer the air for all of humanity.”

     2. I agree Clare, because we don’t teach or children that emotions are simply reactions, and are not to be fuelled like a fire, they don’t know any other way of dealing with life other than to be emotional and create dramas. The school ‘playground’ is far worse than any soap opera or big brother episode, charged with emotional tension and brimming over with drama – exhausting the kids and creating a breading ground for extreme behaviour from the cutting trends currently running rife in schools, to the excessive drinking, smoking and partying being taken part in by most teenagers.

     3. So true Clare, In giving children the opportunity to feel that an emotion is not them it also gives them the opportunity to feel the greatness they are, rather than dwell in the emotion

     4. I agree Clare, that is really important for children, a true gift.

382. I like your distinction Joan between a feeling and an emotion and that perhaps they might be different things though related to one another. I like this idea that emotions are perhaps the dramatic stories or spin that we like to put on things to avoid what we are feeling and to avoid the responsibility of feeling the consequences of our choices in life.

     1. From this blog the difference between feelings and emotions seems less of an ‘idea’ but more of a reality. This is my experience too. For example I can get frustrated that I am feeling tired, or I can just allow myself to feel the tiredness. I can get angry about feeling hurt, or I can just allow myself to feel the hurt. Feeling my feelings connects me to me. Indulging in emotion takes me further away from me. This is the most gorgeous awareness to put into practice.

        1. Well expressed Rebecca

        2. Beautifully put Rebecca. When a bottle of mayonaise dropped out of the fridge onto my foot, I swore forcefully several times, and afterwards felt hugely deflated as if I had really let myself down. It was really palpable that I had allowed myself to indulge in this unnecessary distraction and I felt numb for some time afterwards.

        3. Absolutely Rebecca, beautifully summed up.Indulging in emotions is a distraction, taking you away from the truth that you are feeling.

     2. Interesting point Andrew. It feels like emotions are things we add on top of what is there to be felt – but in truth they seem to serve no truly loving or healing purpose at all.

383. Like any other drug, indulgence in emotions will exhaust and dull you. The intent when using a drug is to numb yourself to your feelings and life around you and to stop yourself from connecting to your inner stillness; we may not openly admit that at the time, but that intent is there and our choice to indulge continues the cycle.

     1. Really interesting point Rosemary, emotions, drama etc is very drug like in its affect on the body – dulling and numbing, and in its addictive qualities, which perpetuate a cycle. Perhaps drug studies should expand their view on drugs to things other than ingestible/injectable substances.

384. ” I am learning to take care of myself in a loving way and have become aware that what I was looking for has always been there inside me, I was just not choosing to let go of my old attachments so that I could feel its presence.” Interesting that the world doesn’t teach its young people to care for and love themselves and feel the deep connection we all have to our innermost, where all the answers lie.

385. I’ve been working on letting go of the emotions and drama that used to run my life too. I’d been running my life in that way for years, it really was completely consuming and exhausting, I have so much more energy letting all of that go. Great blog Joan.

     1. I’m totally with you on this Gill. I have found that it’s not only a matter of emotions and drama exhausting my energy reserves, but much deeper than that the outplay of emotions and drama have inwardly wreaked havoc in the body, causing any number of imbalances and illnesses including in my case digestive problems, skin rashes and mood swings.

        1. Exactly Dean – emotions and drama affects our entire health and wellbeing.

        2. Emotions are very poisonous to the body.

     2. Gill, I too have been working on letting go of the emotions and dramas, I was not aware how much I was caught up in it all and how exhausting it was too my body. Having let go of it it now, I have a new level of energy, the exhaustion has finally gone.

386. Joan, this is a great blog and one that I will keep coming back to. How often we get caught up in emotions thinking they make us real and human but really they take us away from ourselves. I find I get lost in emotions, they are toxic for my body. Feeling what is truly going on is far more empowering and feelings don’t wear me down like emotions.

     1. I can really feel what you say here Susan – and how much stimulation we need to keep ourselves going when we live in that constant fog of emotion. How much simpler life is when we choose to stop this not so ‘merry-go-round’.

387. Thankyou Joan for this blog it has helped me identify where I bring drama into my day, and the clarity in your description of the subject has helped me become much more aware of this each time I read it.

     1. True Laura, and I have found that the more I catch myself going into drama, the more my awareness grows. Any emotional drama bubbling up can be nipped in the bud before it takes hold, and I get carried away in the momentum of not being true to myself. Emotional drama really is like a drug, take one sip and if I’m not careful, before I know it I have drank the whole bottle, and then it takes longer to come out of it, but nipped in the bud, I can firmly screw the lid back on and say NO to emotional drama.

        1. I agree Sandra. I have observed this also. Emotional drama in the body actually feels quite horrible to me so I know when I get this feeling that I need to stop and feel what is really going on and nominate it for what it is.

        2. I agree absolutely Sandra! My increasing awareness has also allowed me to resist the drama and stop it before it leaks out.

388. Joan, thank you for sharing. I was interested to read that thirteen years of therapy did nothing to alleviate the emotional drama that dominated your life. And I am glad to hear that Universal Medicine has helped you understand your emotions and deal with them in a positive way.

     1. Yes I also found that interesting too Bernard. It just goes to show that unless the root cause is dealt with in its simplicity and truth then we are just moving the emotions and issues around and indulging in them.

        1. True Johanna – and as well as moving the emotions around they cover over the issues too giving a sense of having dealt with the problem but not actually healing them.

        2. The other thing I found and have observed, is that as we move these dramas, issues or situations around we have become addicted to them. It’s like a drug – it has become our ‘normal’ way of being that when there isn’t anything going on we need our fix and go find, or create some more.

        3. Very true Natalie, for a lot of people dramas are an addiction, and these dramas become so ‘normal’ that for them it feels natural to keep them running or to create some more.

389. Some great truths are being unveiled in this wonderful blog. As I read today I am drawn to what you say concerning Socrates and Jesus “Both were condemned to death for questioning the value of accepted beliefs and for teaching that we all have responsibility for our own healing.” We all have a responsibility to support our own healing and well being. The world we now live in is our creation, what we consider reality is a thin veil that people agree to endorse out of fear. This fear incites many acts of violence and censorship. We have the ability to alter this reality and question culturally accepted beliefs or not.

390. It is really wonderful Joan to read the massive changes that have occurred for you around how you have chosen to view life and shape your life. Well done! I also have noted emotions as reactions to what we are feeling and how playing them out just buries those reactions and how this does occur in our bodies, where great harm, even leading to illness, can occur. People think that being free of emotions means being free of any feeling. It is so not true. I have connected with some wonderful feelings that are not tainted with emotions, such as the feeling of harmony, very much there in my body and able to be connected with, when I choose.

391. I agree James. The constant battle within myself to be right, or not be wrong has occupied much of my time and energy. I have been caught up in the drama of the situation. This is something that now , I am very much aware of and catch myself before allowing myself to get lost in whatever is going on. A choice to be made, that way or my way. A way of living that supports me and allows me to make a choice that is right for me. Not trying to be right to please someone else.

392. Joan, I keep returning to this blog and it shows layer upon layer of how emotions impact us and don’t work. I feel how our need for drama and emotion is the way many of us deal with feeling empty and disconnected from ourselves and others; it’s why music, art etc. is so popular, and I love how you’ve linked your lack of need of them in the way you’d done previously, with dropping the drama and feeling more. That’s the biggest irony of it all. When we are in drama, we’re not actually feeling, we’re just reacting and it goes no-where as ultimately we need to feel that underlying feeling, rather than the 2nd hand reaction. Why live life 2nd hand when we can live it full and true and 1st hand – a question I will be taking into my day and week as I see more of those reactions. Thank you for such an insightful and inspiring blog.

393. I never really saw myself as a drama queen, but looking back at my life I can relate to the way you talk about making a big deal about when things go wrong, instead of just a simple ‘oops’, it becomes everything. Suddenly, my whole focus is on one small aspect of my life that currently isn’t going so well, completely ignoring all the many great things that are still there. With help and support from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I can feel the immense harm in this behaviour and am more able to stop those reaction and let them go with just a little perspective.

394. I started to re-read your blog Joan and I didn’t get any further than this line – “I continually worried about getting things right, which was a horrible way to spend my life”, and it dawned on me that this is how I have spent a great deal of my life too. What a waste of energy, and it often left me with a feeling of resentment and emptiness if life didn’t go my way. Now that I am letting go of trying to control outcomes I have a feeling of steadiness which allows me to flow without pushing or creating dramas for myself.

395. Awesome blog Joan on exposing the difference between feelings and emotions. A true inspiration for all (myself included) who have been on the emotional roller coaster and are now choosing responsibly and lovingly.

396. What a powerful blog Joan. Thank you for highlighting the difference between feelings and emotions as how as humanity we have thought they were the same. The cartharsis of emotions and the evoking of an emotional response is huge in the artistic industry where I work in, and knowing now the actual harm in indulging in emotions, is an amazing opportunity to re-imprint how we express as an industry. And it is so much lighter and more fun!

     1. It’s quite amazing how we are taught and think they are the same – I remember how I would use the words interchangeably. It’s great to feel and understand the difference for they are miles apart – like chalk and cheese for want of a better term.

     2. What a great opportunity for you to work on the inside of the emotional drama industry, 1heart1love1earth. The media mostly serves up what the public wants, but it is the usual chicken and egg situation about who started the addiction? Somehow that cycle needs to be broken, and where better than from the inside?

397. ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.’
     For me this was a needed revelation!
     There was much more gold in this blog, and I feel it is one for me to re-visit!
     Thank you Joan

     1. Yes Pernilla. This is such a powerful sentence and one that is so revelationary. If the world understood this what a different place it would be.

398. Since I moved house and I didn’t bring a TV, I can really see how emotional TV is and how most of the programs are about drama. Big TV shows are one big emotional roller coaster and they are designed to work on our emotions. I have to say, it feels great without TV, and with that, without all that drama.

399. This is such a fabulous blog Joan, exposing the investment that we can have in emotions and how we can allow ourselves to feed off them and buy into them. How true that all of that indulgence, all of the hashing over emotions, talking about them, reliving them – only buries them deeper.

400. Drama is a drug and this blog sums the whole charade up perfectly. Thank you Joan.

401. Wow, Joan, thank you for this amazing blog.
     I was stopped in my tracks (after an emotional day) by this:
     “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.”
     And offered a way forward with this:
     “By continually observing the quality of my body, letting the feelings surface and then choosing not to indulge in any emotions that arise in reaction to them…”
     A truly lovely sharing, thank you.

402. I truly resonate with how we measure a performances success by invoking an emotional response in the audience. It was what I was taught my whole life as a singer. It is so clear now that that longing to ‘move’ people was coming from an emptiness that I felt within me.

403. “The one thing I can trust is my inner essence”. No need for anything more than knowing, feeling and Living from my essence, and to express and live from that, pure simplicity. It brings with it no room for drama or anything that complicates our life.

404. Joan, I keep coming back to this one. When you speak of that knowing in us, that is there always, but to truly feel it we need to let go our old attachments – definitely one which speaks to me right now as I consider what I still carry which is not me, and never was.

405. The emotional release is the ‘pressure valve’ being opened. When things build up on the inside it has to escape somewhere. The teachings of Universal medicine have presented another way that supports the pressure not even building and dealing with it before the valve needs releasing.

406. Thankyou Joan, I really found your story quite interesting and a part of life that I hadn’t really been aware was playing out to the extent that you described. My awareness will be open more in this area of my life.

407. What great article. I am just re-reading it – it should be a hand-book for the human race to study! Yes, we are either invested in love or we are invested in things being a certain way e.g.. it has to be ‘right’. What a controlling way of living – all our gorgeous love is diverted into toxic emotions.

408. ‘Emotional Drama’ those words together are so descriptive, it’s as though no movement need even be made but the dance, dialogue, pantomime, story, conflict or contrast are happening inside our bodies and minds even so. Exhausting!

409. I too Joan have found that through studying the philosophy of the Ageless Wisdom through Universal Medicine that my life is a lot less emotional – and not because I am repressing them but addressing them when they come up as you say. Knowing there is something deeper to feel and that can be addressed when feeling an emotion has had numerous benefits. I now no longer feel the need to ‘comfort’ eat as much, and know when that does come in there is something great for me to look at. This is just one example of how this plays out for me – and I too have had fantastic support from Esoteric practitioners with this. Thank you for your reflection on this Joan!

410. Trying to get things right has been a big one for me Joan, now I can catch myself with this which allows me to change and make the choice just to stay being me and come from that, it takes away all that stress and angst, looking outside of myself.

411. Thank you Joan for sharing much to do with drama and emotions which is what many peoples lives are made up of. Having experienced living in this way myself this blog brings an understanding to one of the reasons why most of humanity is so exhausted! Imagine if we all could just stop and feel what is going on in our bodies after such dramas occur? Maybe we would start making different choices. A lot has been written here to consider more..thank you!

412. Drama has become part of our staple diet these days – newspapers, school playgrounds, coffee shops etc. – are all hot beds of emotional intrigue and gossip. I love what you have shared Joan. Exposing the fact that this gets us nowhere, changes nothing – we just bounce from one drama to the next fuelling our indignation and frustration with the world. On some level maybe quite liking the ‘comfort’ of the victimhood and powerlessness we pretend to exist in. Stories like yours, Joan, serve as a true inspiration – turning it all around with responsibility and care. Thank you.

413. Catharsis is often presented as being a good thing, a release, but like you say Joan my experience of it is that it only compounds an emotion deeper and makes it stronger, so instead of gaining any clarity around a situation we are left more entrenched in it.

     1. Well said Fiona. I have also found that catharsis only entrenches an emotion deeper and simply magnifies it. It does not clear it or make it disappear. I have found that focusing on an emotion feels indulgent and takes a great deal of energy. I have so much more energy in my life since I have learnt to feel what I’m feeling and let it pass without getting hooked in to it.

414. Thank you Joan for your blog and I can relate to it very much indeed. The emotional life is very painful and it is no wonder that this then leads us into our illness and disease through our chosen life choices.

415. Thank you Joan, I have often questioned this and felt the difference between art works that come from the heart or art works that come from an emotional state of being. What I have experienced is that the art world is sold out to a belief that expressing your emotions through art is part of a healing experience which really is an excuse to not take responsibility for the way you express and the impact this has on others. True healing would be to express from the heart and to make it about love so as to clear and heal the emotions without indulging or identifying with them.

416. The addiction to the roller coaster of drama and emotions gives the appearance of an ‘interesting’ and stimulating life. However, the so called excitement wears off and wears us down. Apart from the harm this way of existence causes, it does not compare to the richness of the Love and stillness that is our true essence.

     1. Yes David, I know I became addicted to the drama and emotional life because it made life exciting and interesting. Without it life became boring, and so, of course, I would find ways of making even the smallest incident a drama. In some way it seemed like an attempt to feel alive, whereas now I realise it is totally the opposite, it is an escape from life and the real me when I am connected to the deep essence of myself and know who I am. Then there is no need for any stimulation to make life exciting. It is ongoing work, as of course the emotions still arise as they will, and it is actually so interesting to observe how it becomes subtler and subtler, until I realise that old ingrained way of responding to life has been my foundation in everything. Continual vigilance is required! I am continually appreciative of the inspiration and support of Serge Benhayon in showing me, as you say, “the richness of the love and stillness that is our true essence,” Without experiencing this I would never have come to an understanding of the depth of my addiction.

417. I trod the psychotherapy boards for a while too Joan (not so much the stage!) and know exactly what you’re talking about. Whilst what I was bringing to the sessions was valid, at least to me at that time, there seemed little in the way of resolution. I would go away feeling better but the underlying cause was never revealed or resolved. Like yourself and many others here, I have learnt, through the presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, how to connect with myself in a whole new way, one that allows me to deeply feel, nominate and move on.

418. What a fabulous article Joan, thank you. Drama is everywhere – I noted the other day somewhere else that even the weather is delivered dramatically. We are hooked on drama and the distraction it delivers us!

419. Joan, it has been great reading this blog. I can very much relate to the drama queen act as my life has been full of them! But the other evening I noticed as I was sitting down reading, there was no drama going on in my head or around me. I was amazed at how simple things were. All of this drama ensures life remains complicated and difficult and I realised in that moment that I had been choosing to live in this way, instead of simplicity.

420. ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves’. What a fantastic definition of emotion.

     1. Thanks for highlighting that Clare I missed that part when reading it and as you say it’s a great definition. Especially when growing up the aim was always to “get in touch with your emotions” as the word was not actually understood. No wonder we grow up confused as kids when we are asked to be something that is not actually who we are.

        1. Absolutely David, I can so relate to this and how you share there was an emphasis to “get in touch with your emotions” – a way that has us believe that we are our emotions and takes the power away from the fact that emotions and feelings are indeed different.

421. An incredible sharing Joan – thank you. Your honesty and clarity get straight to the point and I love how exposing this is of the emotional way of life. Something I too have lived and been deeply embedded in but the interesting thing to feel now is how self-indulgent this way of living is! From my experience, it does not take into consideration all people, is very driven by self and in gaining recognition. I love your reference to history here in seeing the bigger picture as to what our current way of life stands on.

     Now together we have and are building on a true foundation for all people – as presented through and by Universal Medicine. A way of living that sees through this catharsis, and offers a true platform to live from, one that has been forever alive through The Ageless Wisdom.

422. This is a fantastic blog that exposes the truth behind many emotional issues, tensions in relationships and psychological problems. Taking responsibility for how we are is a necessary and unavoidable step. I found this blog to have very sound insights into your own psychological processes, and very likely, will be very similar for many other people also.

423. I have been hooked on emotions and drama in the past and it is exhausting. It would certainly take me away from feeling truly connected to myself.
     Thanks for exposing this epidemic dis-ease Joan.

     1. Yes Kathryn. It is indeed an epidemic disease that most do not realise the harm of. Thank you Joan for explaining it so clearly.

     2. Exactly- this is what is causes a dis- ease within the body and you are so right Kathryn, it is exhausting.

424. I can very much relate to the holding on of emotions, and the catharsis that often follows, because of this belief that holding on is somehow better – from movies and media there is this perception of holding on to emotions being a good thing that perpetuates a lot of drama, which can fill the emptiness we feel when we are not ourselves.

     1. ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.’ Reading this my whole body responds – opening up to the possibilities suggested – knowing I do not need to be incarcerated on the emotional roller coaster that can be life if we do not take responsibility. Thank you.

        1. I agree Matilda, the emotional drama we perpetuate in life really does make for a roller coaster ride of my own making, that I often feel like I want to get off – it’s so overwhelming and tiring etc, and yet I am the one who built it and keeps it running, because yes it’s overwhelming, but that is a distraction in and of itself. It’s been really interesting seeing how I fuel my own pyre so to speak, and that I therefore also hold all the water needed to put it out.

425. Joan, you say in your article ‘I can change issues so they do not come back – unless I start choosing them again’. Wow. What a reminder not to use old issues and habits to prop us up when the going gets tough, and choose instead , as Roberta says, to come back to the gentle breath.

426. I’ll never forget the first time I walked out of an esoteric healing session – after playing around with the “gentle breath meditation” for a few months and listening to some Audio recordings of Serge speaking. What it felt like to not be caught up in the up and down… in the roller coaster – the happy/sad. The tension and relief that I never really realised I was in before. To feel that sense of steadiness and a still, strong knowing that everything was always ok, and that there was no need for that exhausting emotional ride.

     Once I felt that, there really was no other way to consider being in the world, other than to live in a way that supports that steadiness as much as possible.

     Thanks for your blog Joan. It really brings it on home to a simple choice I can keep on making.

     1. Thanks, Simon. I agree that the simplicity and steadiness you speak of is very possible if we are willing to let go of the identification with our emotional hurts, that keep us on a self-serving roller coaster rather than in the flow of life and all that it can be.

427. I also used to be addicted, you could say, to the emotional outpourings of music in all different genres, both playing it and listening to it. It seemed like a temporary relief from the tension in my body at the time, but I soon realised that all those emotions would swiftly come back, in many cases worse than before. These days I am learning to honour that tension more rather than seek to numb or distract or avoid it, or relieve myself of it, and I have noticed that this has made a bigger, more consistent difference to my emotional health.

     1. Andrew I really appreciate you mentioning the tension you have in your body and no longer seek to numb or distract to avoid it. I’m only just accepting I do have tension and am learning to stay with honouring this and not choosing various avoidance tactics. Far healthier than a roller coaster of dramatic distraction.

428. Its a great article Joan. In my twenties I made a point of wanting to be feeling more of what was going on inside and tried some psychotherapies and other modalities and was encouraged, as you say, to become emotional… to get it all out. What ensued was the beginning of an emotional roller coaster which I know hurt other people as I started to vent all these pent up feelings. Universal Medicine teaches a path that has 100% more self responsibility, which encourages me to feel what is going on in my body, and learn to live life and make choices from these feelings, before they come charging out as pent up emotions.

     1. It is true that Universal Medicine teaches a way of life that has self responsibility as a foundation. Feeling what is going on in our body, observing, learning from and making loving choices according to that.

     2. It is such a different approach Simon to all those therapies that encourage one to get the feelings out there, beat up cushions, get ‘real’. I always steered well clear but instead went for therapies that bottled it up and buried it, it always seemed more civilised to me! However, Universal Medicine shone the light on the real way to deal with it all, to take responsibility for all our stuff, make choices based on self respect and love, learn to express oneself fully with grace and intelligence so that we don’t harm anyone including ourselves.

     3. Well said Simon, I think I saw you on that roller coaster. I seem to recall feeling a bit more alive in a sense but not in any real way. It was only in relation to the numbness I had experienced before. Self-love and self-responsibility are a much truer and healthier foundation for expressing ourselves. In my experience, the act of self-love supports loving expressions to others and that is what I choose for myself every day.

429. “I continually worried about getting things right, which was a horrible way to spend my life.” So true Joan. I know this one well, but am learning to accept my imperfections, learn from my mistakes and enjoy the amazingness of me, as are we all deep down in essence.

     1. I agree Sue. As a result of being worried that I might be wrong I got into habit of not backing myself and so not expressing that amazing truth and love.

     2. I agree, Sue, this phrase caught my attention too, and how lovely to be able to accept ourselves as we are and to enjoy simply being us.

     3. Yes Sue I agree, to accept imperfections, learn from mistakes and still enjoy being ourselves is a loving and supportive way to walk life’s path.

430. What an amazing journey you have had Joan – to finally stop what was harming you and make loving choices to heal and turn your life around.
     How you have changed and let go of the constant drama in your life, would indeed support many others who also experience this in their lives, thank you.

     1. Like you Anna I was inspired by Joan’s blog and her clear expression of her experiences
        Thank you Anna and Joan

431. Joan you share “I continually worried about getting things right, which was a horrible way to spend my life.” I can certainly relate to this. While I didn’t go to external drama, I certainly internalised it in a big way. At a fairly recent Women’s Health presentation one lovely presenter shared how she chose to not to make her self wrong anymore. This was life changing for me. It clicked that I had a choice and to go ahead and carry out what I could do to the best of my ability, based on my understanding and my choice. If it’s wrong (so to speak) I’ll learn. But freezing myself in a form of paralysis in case I got it wrong was torture.

     1. What you mentioned here Sandra about a form of ‘perfection paralysis’ I can totally relate to! Literally to the point of not wanting to get up off the floor or to move from where I would be standing. Frozen in fear of ‘getting it wrong’ and then never living the ‘having gotten it wrong’ down. I can’t say I have thawed out from this pattern of behaviour, but thank you for the reminder that we can learn from all our choices and that there is a responsibility in being a student of ourselves and not a critic.

432. I found this blog really interesting as we have been led to believe that showing emotion is a good thing rather than keep it bottled up inside – the stiff upper lip as you say. I also used emotion to indulge, identify myself with or hide behind so I did not face my true feelings. Having bottled things up for so long I got to a point in my life where I thought it was good to show emotions – but it did not change a thing, I still felt lost and unhappy with life. It was only on meeting Serge Benhayon that I understood the difference between true feelings and emotions and I started to let them go.

     1. I thought my emotions, (that I had suppressed expressing for a long time”, WERE my feelings, Susan, until, like you, I met Serge Benhayon and it became so clear how they are a protection against the feeling being felt. What a release and relief it is to recognise the emotions as they come up and say “Now what am I really feeling, and why don’t I want to feel it?” Just asking the questions allows the emotion to wither away instead of gathering momentum.

        1. I can relate to what you’ve said here Joan and Susan. More so now I have started to notice that as I become more aware of my body my emotions and emotional thoughts swirl and repeat in my head. These emotions can change so drastically from world-ending drama to calm and back to drama in the very next moment. Whereas if I ask or consider how I feel it is much more simple and can tell me what I am experiencing in black and white. Thank You Joan for the reminder, to keep it simple and within the body, not the mind.

        2. That’s a great question to ask Joan – thanks for the reminder.

433. I also used to continually worry about getting things right, to the point that I can sometimes still have difficulty making decisions because of this pattern. I am slowly learning to trust more and let things unfold, it feel so lovely when things just flow.

434. I love the clear distinction you describe between feelings and emotions. Since I started to look at art from a different perspective and started feeling all the emotions being stirred up I find myself backing away from it. In the past I used art to build some kind of image for myself, to provide myself an identity and even to show off; me the art-lover and then especially of the more obscure art/music. It never fulfilled me though and now I recognise why, I was overriding my true feeling of emptiness and low self esteem by allowing myself to be dragged into the outburst of emotions and drama of other people, the artists.
     It feels much lighter to be able to do without, e.g to drive in my car, without any music and to be with just me in stillness.

     1. You are speaking for so many of us Marjo!

     2. Yes so true Marjo. I realised that all the great painters and musicians I ‘loved’ was because their work was extremely emotional, passionate, intense. As I have healed my emptiness and found within a rich stillness, my need for such strong emotional props has simply fallen away and like you, being in stillness with myself is far more fulfilling.

435. I have found drama to be the most addictive thing to give up and you have really nailed the experience of letting go of it, very inspiring. My favourite line is” An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.”
     I am writing that on my fridge for when I am having a relapse into my drama.
     I also studied acting for a long time and you have exposed so much about the industry in this blog, thank you Joan.

436. Thank you Joan for sharing your amazing journey – On reading your line “Don’t make a drama out of this” reminded me of exactly how I would react to many situations, be little drama’s or real big ones which would resonate and stay with me for days – causing unnecessary stress/anxiousness – not just for me but for those on the receiving end.

     1. I agree Marion – one of the many symptoms of drama is anxiousness, a brilliant feeling for keeping you on edge and way from yourself. I have been known to panic about panicking because it prevents me from going through life with ease and no anxiousness, which would give me access to my inner most.

437. I have found this blog rich with wisdom, offering much to ponder, reflect and appreciate Joan.

     1. I agree Michelle. A rich and insightful blog offering support to an aspect of life that I’m sure we can all relate to.

438. Thank you Joan for writing about drama and how we choose it, as it has helped me to look closer at the moments of drama in my own life and to feel the reaction within my body.

439. This really is an insightful blog with much wisdom Joan, when you look at so much in the world, in art, music and poetry etc it all just oozes with emotion and most think this is a good thing and I suppose thats what makes most of it sell, the more emotion a painting or song can bring up the more it worth. Its great to be able to now see through this.

440. Creating drama can be quite subtle as well, a manipulation of others’ emotions. Great article Joan.

441. Thank you Joan, what I have come to realise is that I used emotions to get attention , rather than feel the emptiness, from not choosing to love and honour myself.

     1. Ditto Gyl, it is so easy to “use emotions to get attention”, yet they do not really achieve anything and usually end up bringing the other person down into your mess! The choice comes down to choosing struggle – a hard and difficult life vs. choosing love – which builds into a consistently joyful way.

        1. Well said James!

442. On reflecting on your blog again Joan, I am feeling that ‘drama’ can come in many disguises, and I guess one of these could come in the form of ‘reaction’ – that is taking some comment that has been aimed at us for whatever reason personally and the ‘victim’, (now being influenced by an underlying energy that has been allowed to enter the scenario) to continue the play of hurt feelings, sulking, moodiness and wallowing in that behaviour – basically just to continue the drama of the incident. How freeing it is when one can finally recognize the reason behind these dramas, and to choose a different way of behaviour. I am finding as life unfolds how simple it is really if we but make that choice when in any confronting moment to choose to come back to the gentle breath and clear that energy of drama.

     1. It is great to have the reminder to not take it personally when someone says something aimed at me, that it is an underlying energy and that I’m continuing the drama if I go into reaction and get moody etc.. very simply written, thank you.

443. Behind so much of the emotionally charged living one engages in, is a fundamental pain. When I read: “I continually worried about getting things right, which was a horrible way to spend my life” I could relate first hand. When getting things right and the recognition of doing so, replaces what we think is love, then no wonder we as a race will go to the lengths and through the emotions that are part of that mission, to so call ‘achieve’ in life. For without getting it ‘right’ we feel wrong and worthless – which is just so far from the mark.

     1. I can also relate well to this – a driving force or push that does not allow Love to be – there is no stillness in this – and it causes so much exhaustion –

444. This is a great article on drama and one I can really relate to, drama itself is a disease and one that can totally consume you if allowed, Joan you have very rightfully expressed how not needed it is, and how important it is to let go of.

445. Thank you for your insightful blog. The clarity with which you can now see your emotions and how they affect you is amazing. Using emotions to numb ourselves from how we are truly feeling, using them as a distraction from truth and an indulgence to wallow in.
     As I am letting go of my attachment to emotions I am rediscovering the truth and beauty inside me and I wonder why I have chosen to numb myself and distract myself from this beauty for so long.

     1. Reading your comment Gretel, it just occurred to me that when we get emotional and create dramas, out bodies tense and we stop breathing our natural rhythm. Once that happens we are lost, and that connection with the truth and beauty inside feels almost inaccessible. Here the body is the key, to reconnect to our breath and feel what is happening in the body brings us back to the present, and ourselves. Simple and sure, instead of wondering and trying to find out why we choose to leave ourselves and breathe the breath of the emotional state that is not ours. I have often heard Serge Benhayon say this simple thing and how it works for him.

     2. I am re-reading Joan’s blog for the 4th time – it is so meaningful for me – I’m beginning to see how broad and far reaching emotions are – little attachments I would not have called emotion but they are- sneaky little habits of thought – all to avoid feeling – and your comment Gretel – how letting go of your attachment to emotions is allowing you to rediscover the truth and beauty inside yourself – is so inspiring -” I wonder why I have chosen to numb myself and distract myself from this beauty for so long.” is lingering with me. Thanks for sharing this!

446. I have battled with the concept of right and wrong all my life, with only recently beginning to really know that neither actually exists, that there is only ever an opportunity to learn from an experience or resist the learning.

     1. That’s an awesome insight. Understanding that changes everything!

     2. Well said Mary-Louise – Right vs Wrong – I too have battled with this concept – and ended with exhausted!! As you say so clearly “there is only ever an opportunity to learn from an experience or resist the learning”. Every time I try to do what I think others want me to do, or what is the right thing to do it never really works and something goes wrong. It is like I am constantly getting the learning that choosing right does not work!

447. Wow, Joan, I think this is going to take several re-reads to fully grasp what you are exposing here ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.’ I used to read historical romance books – the story of dislike that turns to love – the ultimate happy ending that I used to dream about and never actually experienced for real. This was my addiction for over 30 years and it successfully helped me to avoid seeing the reality of what was happening in my own life. Now I am learning to feel true love within me.

     1. Yes there is much in this sentence to understand and grasp. It is wonderful that Joan now has a lived experience of this and can share her understanding with us all.

448. Emotions are a big trap, if we allow them to take control they will take us on a roller coaster ride. I use to be so caught in my own emotions and felt like never ending. It’s taken a long time for me to realise this, but now I am so much more aware when an emotion is kicking in.

449. Not being controlled by anything outside of me but returning to knowing myself, feeling my essence brought on a much more simple and loving way of life. Observing and feeling the stream of emotions that are delivered to us 24/7 through music, television, movies, books etc. has made a big difference. Knowing I have a choice to be more present and not allow to be affected by the emotions that come at me all the time has been empowering. As you Joan I thank Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for showing me that I have a choice.

450. I so relate! I too was addicted to drama (and sometimes still am) big time, – not that it was always obvious as in high pitched emotions, but wherein I made situations more complicated and more difficult than they needed to be. I’m still working on this, but I too, with the support of the presentations by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, was able to start getting honest that the drama has been a way of distracting from me feeling what’s truly going on. The more I’ve been able to connect to this, the more I have been able to truly begin to heal my hurts and thus to feel how amazing I am, and in fact, how in truth, this amazingness is within us all and simply that it often becomes buried or hidden when we are choosing not to deal with our hurts.

451. Yes I can see how much attention can be created through drama and how seemingly addictive that becomes until we have made our life one big centre stage drama.

452. Beautiful to read of your journey Joan, and your appreciation for Universal Medicine I can relate to. Their unending support and understanding is unlike anything I’ve experienced with anyone else.

453. ‘Everything was such a drama then, and if it wasn’t I would have great pleasure turning it into a drama!’ – This is very relatable Nicole, and we really do set ourselves up on a roller-coaster ride!

454. This is great Joan! Reading your descriptions of the difference between feelings and emotions has helped me get clearer within myself.
     Emotions appear to me as being the more obvious, the easier, graspable, tangible feelings to ride with, and recognise. A lot of people trade with and act out these surface energies in daily life. I did too, and still fall into emotions. The difference is that in my life today, I am aware much more frequently of the deeper feelings that underly moments. There is a lovely light perception that comes with that. A freedom of being in the moment, feeling the different energies of what myself and others are saying or doing, and feeling that I have the choice whether or not to get ‘swept up in a ‘tide’ and not feel compelled to act in a certain way.

455. Joan, I have been quite adept at creating a crisis or two and completely relate to ‘always thinking it was the end of the world if the slightest mistake was made, mine or anybody else’s’. Something for me to ponder here.

456. Joan – Thank you for the expose on how drama works.
     decades ago I engaged in my own life dramas and entertained my self and those around me with what was happening. When I wanted out of all the dramas I turned to gurus and meditation. I thought it was working as I was calm, yet my health was declining. After a few sessions with an esoteric practitioner and the gentle breath meditation, I realised most times I had meditated for the last 20years had been to ‘get away from the drama or situation or the feeling’ – not for the joy of connecting within to myself. This practice caused great contraction and illness in my body. So with Universal Medicine,I learned to read the precious feelings I was feeling and with that came healing the hurts, a better understanding of whatever I was dealing with, a great improvement of my health and relationships! Wonder -full.

457. Thankyou for sharing Joan. I can relate to making a drama out of something and it does keep you from feeling what is really going on underneath the surface. In the drama you can blame others and not take responsibility for your actions.

458. Its funny how dramas and emotions are a big part of the world and how they keep people nicely distracted to not feel themselves or the possibility of a deeper connection with self, others, the universe and god.

459. Your words offer such wisdom Joan, we always have a choice, to stop and feel, and then to allow others their choices instead of worrying about them or trying to fix a situation or getting frustrated.

460. Thank you for your article Joan. I can really relate to the use of drama to get attention and also the addiction to reliving the intense emotions over and over. From my experience it is true to say this doesn’t at all heal, but rather the emotions just remain there within us waiting to resurface any time we choose it. I love how you claim your new way through trusting your inner essence, honouring your feelings and not giving yourself away to the emotions that may arise in response to these feelings. This has also become my own practice and reading your blog somewhat confirmed this in myself, so thank you.

461. Thank you for sharing your story Joan. It is so true that it is often us who create or need the drama in our lives. It is as though any attention will do. There is so much to be said of the power of rhythm & consistency – it truly is supportive of a beautiful life.

     1. So true Lee. There is so much power in rhythm and consistency. In the drama we lose our true power.

462. Having been a ‘sannyasin’ where catharsis was very much valued, I find it most helpful to read the little bit of history on it, re Aristotle and Freud – makes sooooo much sense. Thank you for your sharing on the journey to wisdom, truth and knowing, very much appreciated.

463. I cant say enough how much I love this blog and how relevant it is to many people. We use up so much energy and time in creating and sustaining drama it’s no wonder we are so exhausted and unable to fit more on our plate.

464. What a beautiful love story Joan.
     I used to think that I loved the ‘great emotional masterpieces’ – Wuthering Heights, Beethoven’s 5th, etc, etc….
     What I really got was an emotional experience that reflected how hurt and empty I was and, that left me feeling more empty and more drained as soon as the ‘rush’ was over.
     A simple presentation at a Universal Medicine workshop allowed me to feel how quickly I lost myself when I became emotional and how this affected those around me.
     I had been evolving away from living a drama filled life when, a few years ago, I saw someone that was deeply hurt and for a few seconds went into sympathy. Within seconds, I too was lost, could not control my thoughts and could not support myself, let alone anyone else.
     It was a great lesson for me and really re-inforced the need for us all to observe and not absorb.

     1. I also used to get absorbed in dramatic films and would be in floods of tears and ‘that left me feeling more empty and more drained as soon as the ‘rush’ was over.’ At the time I thought it was the sign of a great film if I was a complete mess afterwards and blubbering with tears. I now have no interest in getting caught up in all the drama, and don’t watch these emotional roller coaster films because it feels horrible in my body.

465. Wow what a fantastic blog – we live in a world full of drama that almost treasures and exonerates tragedy and extreme emotions, and it’s so easy to get caught up in this. I know I have certainly done my fair share of playing a drama queen, which achieved much attention but all along missed the complete point of life, and ignored the truth of what was really going on. Living a life not controlled by emotion and reaction has so much more clarity, truth, and love.

     1. I have too done my fair share of being the ‘drama queen’ – but really what does it achieve? I find that once you start creating drama, knowing the gossip and being ‘in’ on secrets, people very quickly begin to expect more of you, and I have in the past certainly gotten myself into a situation where the drama ‘snowballed’ out of control, and the demands of others for me to always have an interesting story for them was too much… I became very exhausted.

        1. Yep – I can totally relate, drama without doubt snowballs a situation to the point it can take control of your life, and you are left afterwards feeling exhausted. Looking back on my particular dramatic days, I’d say I got a lot of attention, and possibly even built my popularity on amusing people from it, but truthfully, I can say drama has never added anything of benefit to my life.

466. Thanks Joan for this great blog. Your line here, ‘With the ‘stiff upper lip’ disappearing, emotions have become the way of expressing and are viewed as essential and often mistaken for true feeling’, is very true. As you say, it is to let the feeling come up but not to indulge in the emotion that follows. For decades we were told to keep our emotions to ourselves and now we are encouraged to let those emotions out, but by doing that there is no true expression, just an outpouring of past anger, bitterness and resentment.

     1. Yes, we’ve gone from one extreme to the other… neither of them true. It’s very freeing to be able to feel without the drama of emoting.

467. Thanks Joan for sharing your story. It was a great reminder on how emotions and absorbing the ‘dramas’ of life can affect our health and wellbeing.

468. Joan, I love this sharing, as I can so relate to the emotional roller-coaster existence. Years ago a woman told me, I have emotions but I don’t feel, and I was appalled. Of course I feel, I protested, I cry at things all the time and I feel everything. Well, yes I did feel everything but then didn’t stop there, I had to turn what I felt into a drama, hence went into my story (= emotion) and needed my story to be bigger and better than everyone else’s, totally taking me away from my initial feelings and away from more of an understanding around why I reacted in the first place. A very exhaustive, and as you say, addictive behavior.
     Thank-fully over the last few years I have come to an understanding around why I held onto that behavior and have no need to go there. Staying with my body and feeling what is there to be felt is a much more natural, loving and totally supportive way to move through situations.

469. Thank you, Joan, for sharing so clearly what our emotions reveal; ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves’. I haven’t heard our emotions explained in that way and it makes so much sense. Thank you.

470. I love the exposure of ‘getting things right’ in this article. This is something that still trips me up – a firm adherence to a set of ideas that say whether something is wrong or right, leaving me in judgment of myself, others and life. Dispensing with all this for a developing relationship with what is true, is my inspiration.

471. Thanks Joan, you express a number of things that are very important when it comes to really taking responsibility for ourselves and what we choose… the most central one is that even though you call yourself a student of Universal Medicine, really you have become a student of your own inner-most. There is no giving away of power, quite the opposite, and you have not looked to someone to give you the answers, just accepted Serge Benhayon’s inspiration for how it is we become a true student of ourselves. Beautiful! Thank you!

472. Love your honesty Joan. Leaving that roller coaster of drama and emotion behind by trusting your inner essence has supported you to be who you truly are.

473. I too have found just how exhausting it was living on the roller coaster of emotions and using high drama to exploit the situation to appease my own personal way of addressing the frustration, bitterness and, yes, sometimes rage, that were used to support my many reactions to the situation that initiated the emotion fuelled drama. Thankfully, this way of living has changed for me since I started looking through a different lens of seeking understanding of the situation – through this changes I made to looking at the situation in a more deep and meaningful way, the emotional reactions just melted away. It was such a life-changing result when I broke the addictive nature of going into the emotional drama of the situation. I reprogrammed this harming attitude to a more consistent and loving way of living – one which is far less draining.

474. Thank you, Joan. It has taken me a while to get there, but I too can see how our emotions take us away from ourselves and from directly experiencing life in all its beautiful simplicity and joy.

     1. I like what you say here Janet, I feel it takes us all a while to get there, a little different for each of us, but remembering that we all do it in our own time and that that is ok. From my experience, when we are able to offer ourselves grace with our choices, we create a space for a much deeper understanding to come through. Then we can proceed with making the needed changes as any judgement falls away. Beautiful.

     2. Yes Janet, such a simple choice offered over and over again, let myself be distracted by the emotional dramas in my life or simply connect back to feeling life directly and feeling when I react.

     3. So right Janet – and yet while generally I dislike emotions, I have found I’m quite ready to bring them in and engage in the drama when I want to sabotage the choice of truly seeing what is going on and what my part is, and then choosing the steps that lead to a greater understanding and truth.

475. Wow Joan, what an amazing insight you bring the differences between feelings and emotions. Emotions are simply reactions to take us away from what we are actually avoiding to feel on a deeper scale.
     To escape from what we choose not to feel, it is a cop out to create a mega mountain of emotional drama around it becoming identified and indulging within that instead of taking responsability in what was first felt.
     Amazing blog – thank you.

476. “I was trying too hard to find the solutions to the problems inside me” Joan this made me realise that I used drama as a distraction; I went into a drama in my head because it didn’t want to feel what was going on around me. This distracted me to the point that every little interaction I would make into a drama in my head,
     Constantly going around in circles trying to fix me and everyone else. When in fact I didn’t need fixing, I just needed to stop and feel how amazing I already was and that this drama was just taking me away from me. So simple when I just stopped to feel.
     Thanks for expressing your truth, it uncovered a truth in me that I was not seeing.

     1. I so relate! I too was addicted to drama (and sometimes still am) big time, – not that it was always obvious as in high pitched emotions, but wherein I made situations more complicated and more difficult than they needed to be. I’m still working on this, but I too, with the support of the presentations by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, was able to start getting honest that the drama has been a way of distracting from me feeling what’s truly going on. The more I’ve been able to connect to this, the more I have been able to truly begin to heal my hurts and thus to feel how amazing I am, and in fact, how in truth, this amazingness is within us all and simply that it often becomes buried or hidden when we are choosing not to deal with our hurts.

477. Wow…Aristotle has a lot to answer for! As a drama trained teacher, I found this to be a very confirming read, Joan. Drama started for me as a way to gain attention from my family and it did give me an identity yet I have never, ever liked it in my own life. It was something for the stage, to be viewed and through that I could safely learn about why drama even exists in the first place. I feel it can be a way of understanding the human condition rather than emoting, which is always manipulative and I find very difficult to sit through. Universal Medicine has clearly defined the differences between emotions and feelings and as a student of this work, I am always reminded of the integrity in truth and this is key for whatever work I do. Cathartic styles of drama are addictive and immensely harmful for all concerned – actors and audiences alike and in our own daily lives. Thank you for outing this.

478. I was sitting waiting for my family in a busy shopping centre yesterday observing the people around me and the passers by when it stuck me how charged with emotion the whole scene was. From the mother and child both having a tantrum because it had all gotten too much, to the sulky teenager being dragged around the shops with their parents, to the old man who looked lonely and sad and as if life had totally worn him down, to the group of ladies giggling like school girls over their coffee and cakes. It made me wonder what life would look and feel like if we weren’t so invested in and identified by our emotions?

     1. I know what you mean Rachel…I was at a place on the week-end where there was so many different emotions going on… anger sadness frustration…. energy form all these emotions felt so heavy just being around it. I’m with you… I wonder what life would look and feel like if we weren’t so invested in and identified by our emotions?

     2. Great point Rachel. We have become so identified by our emotions. So much so that nearly everywhere we look we are seeing emotional behaviour. How refreshing and clear is it to feel someone who isn’t in an emotional indulgence.

479. I used to identify with dramas and emotions from others as this always kept me busy and gave me a sense of purpose as I felt I could help them and make them feel better but this only resulted in me feeling burnt out and thanks to Universal Medicine. I have let go to a lot of those ideals and belief I was carrying and have committed to being responsible for my own healing, it is a work in progress and in a short period of time my life has changed dramatically. I look and feel like a different person and no longer save others but reflect back to them that there is another way of living free of dramas and emotional outbursts and with more love, understanding and true intimacy in relating to others.

     1. I can so relate to this – I too have committed to being responsible for my own healing thanks to Universal Medicine and their teachings, and I now know that my own or other peoples emotions and hurts are NOT who I/we are, they are simply a result of our past choices, that we can choose to identify with – or not. And from my experience, choosing the latter has been pure medicine.

480. You are spot on about Aristotle, Joan: his teachings on catharsis and the so-called cathartic, therapeutic benefits of watching drama (tragedy in particular) run in stark contrast to Plato, whose teachings emphasise the potentially very damaging and harmful effects of indulging in drama and fiction. Plato understood that everything comes with and from an energy, and that if that energy is emotional (as drama is), it poisons those who indulge in it.

     1. I picked up on this too Joan and Connor, I never knew that that’s where a lot of our approach to catharsis came from, and how that seed away from truth back then is still at play today, how our societies today are all about emotion, and finding a release from it. It just shows how powerful ideas are and how many of us continue in ways and behaviours without knowing their source – discernment is key, and if we apply it we find many of our so-called sacred cows are untrue as you’ve so clearly shown here Joan with your experience with emotion and catharsis.

     2. The history of this is very revealing – two key figures in the development of how we think and express that are so divergent in their approach… a fork in the road all those years ago. We are still being offered the same choice in the modern age: to truly feel or to become emotional.

     3. Thank you for that comment Conor, and making it so much clearer about the difference between Aristotle’s teachings and Plato’s, who of course was a student of Socrates. I still observe that in our time, if Aristotle, Plato and Socrates are mentioned there is a kind of habitual acceptance of Aristotle, almost elevating him to Godlike status, (he would have loved that!), whereas there is shadow of resistance and doubt towards Plato and Socrates, and almost a patronising air. It seems that we are still so indulgent in the effects of drama that we are not willing to accept the truth of its damage.

     4. That is fascinating how two men we are taught to look up to, in fact taught two very different things.

481. To understand how I am ruled by emotions and past hurts in order not to react to them, but to observe them, is a constant learning for me.

     1. Me too… And the amount of time and energy spent on drama – it’s no wonder we get exhausted and cant fit anything else in…

482. The simplicity of differentiating between the two, emotions and feelings, is huge and the impacts so vastly different. How amazing to now know the difference and see how they are inextricably linked and related if we do not stop and feel what is really going on.

483. It always strikes me how amazing people look and sound after being a part of Universal Medicine. I cant wait for everybody else to jump on board and watch their transformations as well.

     1. Yes it is so gorgeous to observe the changes we all go through, its like watching caterpillars turning into butterflies. I know I was very worried at the beginning of my transformation, as I felt I was loosing something of myself that I really needed. As Joan has shown us though, there was no need to worry, as what we gain in releasing our self imposed identities and behaviours is far more joyful and invigorating.

484. I love how you simply say “don’t make a drama out of this” Joan, when something happens. I used to love solving other peoples dramas for them, which I now know helps no-one, but I used to love getting involved too and ‘helping’. So I can relate to enjoying the dramas in the past, and now can much more easily let them go as not my issues too be interfering with.

     1. Joan and Jill, this is truly a ground breaking perspective for drama queens everywhere. Me included. There are many reasons we seek drama but the one thing the writers on this blog seem to agree on, is that it’s much more joyful not to.

     2. I know this one Gill. Getting involved in other people’s dramas somehow makes us feel more important and more needed. I have discovered however that it does not help anyone if I lose myself and take on the energy of the drama. I become lost in it, lose energy from it, and do not offer a true stable reflection for the drama to be resolved. Rather I feed it and help to create more of it. Not helpful at all!

        1. So true Gill and Rebecca, that insidious energy of wanting to be involved seems to come from wanting to be worthwhile and feeding on someone else’s drama to satisfy ourselves, (as if we didn’t have enough of our own!) I can remember the “full up” and satisfied feeling from having been together in this turmoil of emotional reaction, and how it took me away from the steady living of life and being present, and it could continue for days or even months and years. It is so freeing and refreshing to be able to say no and just observe and support others in another way.

     3. Gosh I can totally relate Gill to getting involved in others drama and wanting to fix or ‘help’, such a drain and distraction from myself and simply avoidance of feeling. It is an elaborate web we weave.

485. I very much enjoyed reading your blog Joan. It is inspiring to read your wise words and how ‘The one thing I can trust is my inner essence’. Until I came to Universal Medicine, I thought emotions and feelings were the same thing. I used to react to situations in a very emotional way, which served no-one, and was very draining and harming to myself and those around me.
     I no longer react in this way, being more aware and recognising the difference. I am also learning to observe and not absorb the emotions of others in life generally.Thank you Joan for bringing this important topic up for discussion.

486. Loved re-reading this Joan. It is such a great expose on emotions and what indulging in them brings. It is certainly a much steadier, more loving way to live connected to our feelings and not making dramas of things that simply need to be felt.

     1. Great comment Vanessa. ‘Steadier’ is really key along with a true confidence, not one of pretence fuelled by emotions.

487. Something that has really helped me with stopping living a drama filled life and going into emotion constantly (which is still there and working on) was to listen to myself and realise it felt like I was just pressing the play button in situations; like realising I was saying ‘well this is what I do in this situation – get nervous, cry, lash out etc etc.’ With seeing this I was able to take responsibility for the fact I was choosing that and have stopped pressing ‘play’ considerably and being more honest with how I’m feeling.

     1. Well said Aimee, I love your analogy here and can really relate to the play switch, actually it’s more for me like a cracked old record. Time to put the dusty cobwebs aside – the old emotional way – and as you say bring greater responsibility to our moments in knowing this is a choice. This is something I am developing as I gain more clarity on the areas of my life where I still choose the other and old emotional way.

     2. Really interesting point Amiee, we often always know exactly what we are doing when we get into situations, knowing how best to play out dramas and how best to react to get the desired effect – for me admitting my part in the playing out of situations has been a big step in changing.

     3. A great comment Aimee. I love the analogy of pushing the play button, it’s like going into the same old pattern without questioning why. I know since I have been observing my reactions it has brought my focus to more truth of what is really at play and enabled me to lovingly observe myself and see the truth of the situation, which is usually around a hurt of my own and nothing to do with anyone else. So why lash out at them, when it is me that has to come to the resolve, and take responsibility for how I feel.

     4. Aimee thanks for your comment – you’ve helped me with noticing this in myself recently: the choice just before I go into an old habit of actually seeing the preview of what will happen. If I follow my next well rehearsed play and pause to say to myself, actually, let’s not play that old play again, but feel what is really here and stay present. I will pay greater attention to this knowing what’s being played and whether I’ll choose to play it out or not.

488. Such a clear explanation Joan, thankyou.
     I can so relate to your experiences of being addicted to and feeding off drama. I did the same for decades and since becoming more aware of the fact that this is not in anyway healing, I have noticed that I now choose less and less to drop into emotional indulgence. But for the first few years it would happen every month or so and I felt like a drug addicted coming off my drug (emotional drama) and having a ‘fix’.

     Life is amazing when we begin to truly heal rather than bury our hurts.

     1. It is really a trick that we think we are addressing our hurts by engaging with our emotions and the dramas associated with them, as you say Mary we are only distracting and burying them further.

489. The loving steadiness of life that Serge Benhayon presents and inspires so many to live by has a richness and huge potential for growth and learning. In comparison to living a life fuelled by highly addictive emotions that leave us so disconnected and distracted from ourselves and each other. I am also deeply thankful to be here at this time to be able to access and re-connect to me again.

490. Roller-coaster is a great way to describe the feeling of living with emotions and dramas at play, the one compounding the next, gaining momentum then grinding to a halt feeling exhausted and giving up but then on into the next drama and so on. I recognise how this can happen on both an hourly/daily basis, or within the wider context of weeks or months – the weeny dramas to the big ‘episodes’… catching the biggest or tiniest reaction and making that choice to not ‘go there’ is a work in progress and one well worth the commitment, as you have shown Joan.

491. Joan these lines are pure gold, ‘I was just not choosing to let go of my old attachments so that I could feel its presence. That has made it possible for me to understand how I can change issues so that they do not come back… unless I start choosing them again.’

     When I want to bury my issues I want to deny how powerful choices are. Much as I’d like to some days, if a old so familiar issue returns, I can’t pretend it isn’t because I haven’t picked it up again and welcomed it back with open arms. I am not a victim of my own choices! I am the one choosing them!

492. A great expression on the damage emotions inflict on us Joan. To become aware that reactions occur simply as a distraction to stop feeling the true feeling/hurt is a process which liberates us from being trapped in drama and problems and connects us instead to our true selves. My life has most surely been liberated from not indulging in the drama and seeking the chaos. A process which continues to unfold. I am eternally grateful for the teaching of the Ageless Wisdom presented by Universal Medicine and their practitioners for their continual support.

493. I think there are many things that we seek in life that give us that buzz feeling you describe but then later leave you feeling flat- the roller coaster- whether that be drama, movies, going to a theme park, different kinds of foods etc. I too used to think that was just how life was – but it’s very draining and exhausting. I am coming to learn that life can be more consistent and we don’t need those false highs and the contradicting lows.

494. Joan, this is such a wonderful blog – truly inspirational – thankyou for the reminder – I am finding emotion sneaks in and I am not even realizing that is whats happening – then I lose myself to the emotion and begin to believe it – such a downward slide!

495. I too was quite the ‘drama queen’ and lived for the stage, at one point in my life. Since then, however, I have learnt that that was both an unhealthy, and a rather unhappy way to live: for my sense of self-worth and self-identity was so heavily reliant on the confirmation and approval of other people – my audience. But I really had no relationship with myself in all of this – which meant that, without the audiences applauding me each night, I just felt empty and worthless. I still enjoy appreciation and compliments from people, but now it is always secondary to (and no longer the basis of) my own personal sense of my self-worth. This I have developed through developing a true relationship with myself, and I have been assisted and supported in this by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, who have shown me the true me that is so worthy of my own acceptance and appreciation.

496. A friend of mine has a great word for spiralling down into one’s own emotional reactions: ‘catastrophizing’. From a small reaction, if you dwell on the emotion and even start reacting to your own reaction you can end up spinning out of control and seeing everything as a catastrophe, which usually attracts the very same thing and hey presto – endless dramas! Calling a stop with awareness and just observing and allowing things to be, calms you down and the dramas along with it. Instead it’s just a step at a time dealing with common wobbles in the way things are. Phew, thanks Universal Medicine!

     1. I agree Dianne, it is so easy to spin ourselves out of control from something that in reality was probably quite simple, however the work of Universal Medicine gives tools that enable people to chose a different way to react to life, or as is the case, not react to life.

     2. Catastrophe, what a great word to describe the magnification of what is merely the passing though of an energy — if you let it, and don’t grab at it and make it into the catastrophe it isn’t. I have been observing more and more since writing this blog when I imbue even a simple sentence with some drama, and I know it by the tone of my voice and emphasis I put on the words, and then I backtrack, admit what is going on, and feel what impulsed me to try and magnify for effect. It gets subtler and subtler, and recognising the small wobbles, as you say Diane, helps me not to go into the great catastrophic sensational reaction when the bigger things occur.

        1. Universal Medicine does indeed give us the tools to spot ever-increasingly subtle emotional reactions and magnifications within ourselves, to a level we were just not feeling before we learned how. But what’s lovely is that there is no end to the finer and finer levels of awareness and understanding, and the joy and harmony they bring.

497. I can identify with much you have shared here Joan.
     I have been able to leave my “roller coaster” life, I am learning to take care of myself and responsibility for my choices, as I do, more of the the real me emerges, I see clearly I was ‘hiding’ my pain in the drama/s.

498. Why do we choose drama and emotions when life can be simple and light?

499. A lovely blog sharing your journey from drama to a much more simple and beautiful life, thank you Joan 🙂

     1. I agree Janene. It is a beautiful story of a journey from complexity and emotion to refreshing simplicity.

500. This is a beautiful blog, Joan. It really speaks of the trap that can be the emotional roller coaster, or simply just emotions. I am finding the more present I am the less emotional I am, and instead there is joy, love, and a solidness in the way I am. This way feels so much cleaner and much more fulfilling. Thank you for sharing your experience, I have learnt a lot from reading your story.

     1. Yes I too have learned a lot from this blog, from the very wise and lived reflections it has offered.

501. Joan, this blog blows open one ENORMOUS door upon so much of the dramatic arts (‘the arts’ full stop) and the plethora of therapies that seek a cathartic release, whether through drama, voice work or other known therapeutic techniques. What you’ve written about Aristotle largely and quite literally ‘setting the scene’ for this in theatre makes absolute sense – what an influence, that lasts until this day, and I have to agree with your sharings here.. to what avail for us all has his approach been, really?
     I grew up in a ‘theatrical’ and artistic family, and have spent much of my life around music and musical training, trained singers, theatre, opera, musical theatre, the world of art and the rest. In truth, emotive expression in music never sat well with me, nor did I ever feel that cathartic emotional expression through more new age therapies ever really healed anything (and I steered well away from it).
     From a young age, I witnessed people just loading up with more emotion particularly through their theatrical expression and experiences – noting that this was emotion that wasn’t usually even their own! (It didn’t feel good).
     Similarly to yourself, through the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, along with the ground-breaking musical expressions of Michael Benhayon and Chris James in particular, along with my own inner explorations, I have indeed found that there is another way to express. That emotions need not rule us, to the point that the stimulating effects of others’ emotional expressions in media such as opera feel largely quite bombarding today. There is most definitely a quality from which our expression can truthfully come, and when we know this, all are blessed by it.
     Just Love this blog Joan – I truly look forward to a great chat in person with you one day. Thank-you.

502. Thank you Joan for sharing how emotions keep us trapped in our bodies by continuously looking outside of ourselves for dramas and events to keep feeding the emotions that lay within. When we seek within ourselves to heal our hurts our emotions are released to free us from our dis-ease.

503. Thank you Joan for this. What you have shared is huge. I think most of us live at the mercy of our emotions, indulging them without observing why they are there. I know at one time I was totally ruled by them too. This of course affected me adversely since I could never come to terms with them and my body did not feel clear. Thanks to Universal Medicine I am now learning to look underneath the emotional reaction to something and feel what has caused it – becoming much more responsible for the choices I am making. This is far less exhausting and draining.

504. Thank you Joan, having read your blog the other day I am now finding myself more aware of any dramas which play out during the day and find myself saying ‘do not go into the drama’. Great reminder Joan, thank you.

505. ‘Freud was influenced by Aristotle and this influence has been fed into the psychotherapy movement, whereas Universal Medicine is a part of the continual unfolding of The Ageless Wisdom, through such teachers as Socrates and Jesus. Both were condemned to death for questioning the value of accepted beliefs and for teaching that we all have responsibility for our own healing.’ Thank you Joan for expressing so clearly the trajectory that society has taken with expounding the healing benefits of emotional catharsis and how those great teachers who have questioned this have been condemned to death. That is certainly an extreme reaction to suggesting that we all have a responsibility for our own healing and since being presented with the tools to do this my life has turned around completely.

506. I too used drama to identify myself. As if staying in my own issues would mean I got attention and didn’t have to take responsibility for anything else going on around me. It was a clever lifestyle game I played for many years – until I met Serge Benhayon and started to understand that the world was much bigger than just me and my stuff. So now I’ve had a choice – to not be identified by drama and live in a way that is loving first. And in making this choice I’ve never felt so connected to the rest of the world and a true part of it – not just a victim of my own personal drama.

507. I always thought that life was a roller-coaster – that there was no other way – it simply was this way. Yet with something inside niggling away saying there is more to life than the ups and downs, than the pains, than the drive and out of control whirlwind that I would find myself in. With the presentations of Universal Medicine, I can wholeheartedly say that I now know there is another way and what I felt all along inside has been confirmed. I now know that there does not need to be a Roller Coaster Ride through life.

508. Before attending presentations by Serge Benhayon, and experiencing healing sessions with Universal Medicine practitioners, I never stopped to reflect upon the effect that movies, art, opera or drama had on my body and my beliefs. Nor did I fully understand how much my health was affected by other people’s stories and emotions, even when I felt drained. Now I am able to distinguish what is mine and what is not mine, and I have the tools to take responsibility for my choice to enjoy a harmonious and drama free life. Thank you Joan for your insightful account, I can so relate to your experiences.

509. Thank you Joan I loved reading your blog. These words:
     ” An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” are so telling. It’s so exhausting being emotional 🙂 thank goodness for the wonderful presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine which enable us to choose another way.

510. E-motion, the ‘E’ representing energy. There is an energy that creates motion in our body that without a doubt, drains and exhausts. Living with the energy of an emotion is the guaranteed way of living in disconnection. Sadness, happiness, frustration or anger has specific energy that runs the body into the ground and affects our natural harmonious rhythm that exists. There is no doubt that arresting this energy lets what lives beneath the emotional layer flood the body, and that is stillness. A great blog Joan, a fabulous read.

511. Consistency is such an important ingredient in life. It is an aspect of my life and a quality within myself that I am working on more and more and really valuing the steadyness and strength it offers myself and all who are around me.

     1. Thank you for this very timely reminder Rebecca, for when I choose to consistently look after myself it has quite a positive impact on the quality of thoughts that I have.

        1. I agree Rebecca and Michelle, consistency in life is key – I used to think it was dull and boring to be consistent but now see that I can live consistently loving and it is far from dull and boring!

     2. I love this Rebecca – you nailed it – consistency. As you say, this offers so much to ourselves and all who are around us. Thank you.

     3. This is brilliant Rebecca – I too am finding that consistency is key in supporting my life and others around me.

512. So well expressed Joan I could feel you have really got a grasp of the emotional roller coaster life you were addicted to. Not that long ago I would have said I was not an emotional person but I have seen how dramas, either mine or someone else’s have played out in my life. The dramas can at the time seem quite small and insignificant but I have learnt if they are not stopped immediately they can easily run on and on and become draining not only to me but on those around me.

     1. That is so true, Alison, about the dramas seeming small and insignificant at the time, and therefore passed over, but that if they are not recognised and stopped at the time they actually build up on top of each other and become much bigger and more difficult to clear. When I was training in mime we learned that the smallest gesture had the biggest impact, you could see it from the back row of the gallery and it spoke volumes. I feel the same about the small drama, it indicates an unresolved issue, that can be huge, underneath.

        1. So true Joan – small dramas can be huge underneath and they need recognising and stopping before they erupt and harm like a full blown volcano.

     2. I agree Alison, if the little dramas are not taken care of, life becomes a series of mini dramas and we then allow ourselves to be held in this energy. From my own past experience when there was no drama I would then create one as I would feel something was wrong if there wasn’t a slight disturbance. So beautiful to feel that there is another way to express lovingly from our inner essence instead of from the roller coaster of emotional drama.

513. This is an awesome blog that reveals the many ways in which we can use emotions to stop us from truly feeling ourselves in life. It’s a great reminder to stop, feel from within and bring presence to each moment. I find for myself when I go into a situation rather than observing it, that I bring the situation into my body and get caught in my emotions. But the moment I come back to me, really feeling from within I know I am ok and can observe situations in a more detached way, observing and not absorbing what is going on. I too can thank Universal Medicine for presenting this as another way, and although I am not perfect at it, when I do choose to live this I feel less affected by life, and more present with me.

514. Beautiful expressed Joan. In the past, really, everything in my life was based on emotions. The more I become aware, the more I realise how caught up I’ve been and still am in emotions. Like you I notice how subtly it appears. Almost without even realising. Because I’m so used to it… Beautiful reminder and inspiration to be honest about where I am at and appreciating how far I’ve come. Just this week realising that I really don’t have to change anyone or anything in the world but just be me. Just be me. Too ridiculously simple, so it seems… But so so true. And yes, the vitality is just huge. Connected to a totally different source of energy. Hard to explain, but it feels AMAZING. Thank you Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.

     1. Yes Floris, it really is ‘too ridiculously simple’ once the truth is known. As you say, you ‘don’t have to change anyone or anything in the world but just be me’. Why are we not raised this way from young – just to be the ‘me’ that we are when we are born – and to be recognised and appreciated for ‘just being me’? Then we would have no need to gather layer upon layer of emotions as we grow and develop!

515. Thank you Joan. I’m on a journey of living less through reaction and emotion. Sometimes it is a struggle to let emotions go and I can relate to the addictive nature of them. When I look through a different lens of seeking understanding of the situation, the emotional reactions can melt away.

516. Thank you Joan for your wise and considered blog – there is so much healing here for any reader from any walk of life. I was very similiar as a young person – in fact my father used to lovingly call me a’ drama queen’. I used to do acting courses to satisfy my need for ‘ creative’ expression to balance my science life in working in physiotherapy. I was looking for that buzz or thrill of the recognition from others for when I performed well. Only now do I realise like you did that this just kept me on that same roller coaster of emotions. It was only after meeting and being inspired by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine presentations that I started to reconnect to me. This was such a relief to myself and my body as I slowly stopped looking outside of myself for approval from others to fill up the emptiness inside me. Amongst the many positive changes is that my relationships have been developing into truly loving ones not the old measured ones where I only opened up so much as to what felt safe. Just like you Joan I have way more joy in my life and vitality in my body and what a relief it is to not seek and play out that emotional trip.

517. Giving up emotions is like giving up chocolate. When I am used to having emotions and suddenly there is none, I observed that I immediately rush for the next possibility to be emotionally entertained. Quite tricky, unless I simply connect to my Inner Heart. Thanks to Universal Medicine I know how to do this.

518. Thank you Joan. I can now appreciate the role popular music of all genres plays in western culture: much of the music produced and lyrics written are designed to make people emotional. This really reminds me of how I used to be. I often played music to raise my mood, make me sad, to have fun, of course to dance, but often in these moments I would lose myself. When a relationship ended, I would seek out music that emphasised the emotions I felt, hurt, rejection, sadness, play them continually, feel even worse because of it ,and even enjoyed feeling bad. It was like a rite of passage I had to go through. Thankfully, I have left all of that behind. Now I listen to music written and produced by Michael Benhayon. It’s beautiful, leaves me feeling uplifted, clear, and blessed even, without a trace of emotion.

519. Well expressed Joan “you hit the nail on the head” as an old saying goes, in your expression of living in our emotions or living from our feelings. I would have to say for me as well, I give full credit to Serge Benhayon’s teachings and loving continous support that allowed me to choose a more true and simple way to live.

520. Really lovely to read how you have understood the significance of emotions and the correlation with health Joan. We live in a sea of emotion, even if it is not ours, emotion can be stimulating, tantalizing and addictive so to consider the feeling once the emotion is running through our body is an awareness that most have not been taught or shown to live with. As you say it goes against our culture that believes this is healthy, cathartic and generally a beneficial relationship to have with emotions.
     The historical reference to Jesus and Socrates is fantastic – if we turn the same point around and consider that Aristotle is often referred to as the founder of reductionism and linear thinking that our culture, progress and science is built on, the question becomes ‘has this really been true progress for humanity in the last 2300 plus years?’ While it could be argued that great advances have been made in the world, reductionist and linear thinking has not prevented millions if not billions of people living in war torn countries, in political instability or with substandard nutrition, health and health care. This blog brings into question the very thinking that we are currently trying to solve the world problems with and our understanding of emotions is no small part of this.

521. I would like to make something clear. When I look back and feel how I was before I came to Universal Medicine I was a total mess of emotional reactions. I could feel the dark, thick cloud in me and around me the first time I met Serge Benhayon, and I seemed to be stuck in it and it was sticking to me. How I am now after seven years of being a student is very different, I have changed incredibly in my approach to life, people, and myself, and my illnesses. However, there are always subtler and subtler layers under those that I am becoming more aware of. So I notice little emotional reactions that I would never have noticed before and they take me up or down. So the roller coaster has become a series of waves. In the times which are now much more frequent and can last for longer periods, I find I am living life more consistently and simply,and it is easier to understand and live what Serge is saying is possible for everyone, that the connection to our inner hearts and aligning to our soul brings about a beautiful rhythm and consistency where we are no longer drawn into the roller coasters and the waves, and life unfolds for us, we are no longer seeking solutions. But there is always more work to be done, and I know I still have a great deal of work to do to come to the truly loving way of living, being in the livingness. Yet I know the importance of honouring and appreciating how far I have come since those old days so that the huge roller coaster is gone, but that I must not rest in that place but continue to notice and clear all that still creates the waves.

522. It is the confusion which majority has around feelings and emotions. Once I asked people on the train “Is there a difference between emotions and feelings?” All of them said it is one and the same, just different words.
     Somehow in modern society emotions are valued. Everything emotional is more popular. Artists and musicians put their “negative” and “positive” emotions in their creations without realizing how harmful it is for others.
     Before I came to Universal Medicine and learned about how emotions, especially others emotions, effect my body I’ve been like you, Joan, creating catharsis from every little thing and drama from nothing. It might be some of underlying beliefs that “life is struggle” then I feel alive to kept me going with emotional drama. It took me a while to be able to feel and not to re-act. I am still learning but it is getting easier and much more fun then before. It definitely has health benefits as I feel less stressed. And it helps dramatically improve relationships with others because they feel more themselves, relaxed and accepted.

523. Thank you Joan, for exposing the myth that expressing emotions is good for us. I agree “the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine who have offered me, along with many others, something incomparable to anything else.” Through deeper understanding of emotional states and their causes we can regain mastery of our emotions so they do not control and damage our lives.

     1. I agree Bernard, for the longest time, I craved to have the juices of life drip from mouth as I devoured it… Only to find the emotion I was eating as poison to my body.

524. I had for a long time used the emotional roller coster routine as a management tool to avoid the real feelings I was having inside that I decided were too difficult to face.

     1. I have too and still do, but more and more I am able to stop and feel rather than getting caught up in the attachment to the emotion.

        1. It’s been like an addiction and it takes a while to realise just how deep its roots have gone.

525. A drama fuelled life – that does sound familiar! A great blog Joan, and I can totally relate to what you have shared about indulging and becoming attached to emotions, but also how this can become very exhausting. Often I’ve found at school that it’s easy to become caught up in friend’s dramas, and it really does tire me out spending the entire day involving myself in their lives rather than focussing on looking after myself.

     1. I agree Susie, it is extremely exhausting getting caught up in other peoples dramas – at work I can feel the same thing someone has an issue/drama and they try to essentially suck me into it – I can either go along with them and then find I do not get anything done and feel exhausted at the end of the day or say no to it. I carry on with what I am doing and not only do I not get affected, they come back to themselves and move on from what they were going through, much quicker.

526. What a wonderfully open blog Joan, thank you for your sharings, very insightful.

527. Yes emotions are an absolute energy drainer…the aftermath is very much felt in the body

     1. Marika, although I frequently feel how draining emotions are, I have never really connected the fact that if I am less emotional and react less during my day then I will be less tired at the end of it! This is so obvious but it was not until I read your comment that I actually twigged the simplicity of it!

528. Wonderful Joan. The development of your understanding of emotions and feelings is just amazingly clear. And simple: “don´t make a drama out of this”. I can so relate to your experience. It is definitely a blog I want to re-read and remember in my everyday. Thanks.

529. Wow what a spectacular blog, to truly expose how humanity use emotions, drama, issues and wow’s to hold ourselves in a way of living that is dull, murky, exhausting and suspended in time. What I mean by suspended in time is that creating drama or even just being grumpy about something is really a way to try and slow ourselves (and by default others) down from moving on in life and actually truly looking at and dealing with issues and expanding to the truly joyful, playful and loving lives we all can easily have.

530. Growing-up in a school that applauded with gusto, all those who took to the theatre’s stage, I found myself in grade ten in 5 productions (the leading role in several). On the stage I was a terrific actor, rather brazen and boisterous, confident and a showman. It was an addiction of sorts and I’ve rarely had a good hard look into it, as to what I was really doing.

     In reading this article, it’s been a wonderful and highly accurate analysis of my own dramatic tendencies, not to mention the aftermath of emotions that linger from years of acting. This quoted summed things-up well: “I learned later that this was from my need of appreciation and affirmation; that I needed an audience to feel good about myself”.

     Uncontrollable would be a way of describing my emotional turmoil at times through out my late teens and early twenties. I continued to act, probably my best performances ever sadly enough, in real life, in real relationships (let alone to myself). To read: “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves” – well again, it summed-up daily life for quite some time. Slowly by surely, my world now is not an emotional one; rather, an ever deepening self connection that creates consistency and lots of love – outweighing any impostors called emotions.

     Thank you dearly Joan for your blog.

531. Wow Joan, I’ve just read this with a new understanding today: “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” It’s so obvious, now you’ve pointed it out, but it feels huge to take on board, thank you .

532. Wow Joan, I’ve just read this with a new understanding today: “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” It’s so obvious when I read it now, but this is a huge learning for me, thank you.

     1. I agree Gill, I feel this understanding is key for all of us who are looking to change our emotional ways. That the emotion comes in response to the initial feeling, and if we can stay with the feeling, acknowledge it and allow it time to run its course in our body, we can move through those difficult feelings and moments with more grace and love. It feels to me that acceptance and a willingness to feel it all (the good and the bad) is all that is here required. I too feel very inspired by Joan’s sharing.

533. Hi Joan – it was so lovely to read your blog and to feel the love that you now have for yourself and that you are now able to share that with the world. It allowed me to feel the true healing once I let go of the ‘drama’ and step off the roller coaster that keeps me locked in the world of emotions. True freedom to be myself.

534. This comment is lovely, thank you so much for sharing it on this blog site. I really love so many aspects of it especially when you talk about not getting emotionally attached and allowing yourself to feel your feelings then move on from them not making it an emotional saga. I also love your diferentiation between an emotion and feeling. I feel this is a very powerful difference of two things that affect the human frame so much. Thank you once again for the lovely read.

535. Joan I love how your describe the emotional drama you invested in an escape and an addiction. It’s crazy really all the things we do to escape feeling who we are and then how complicated our lives become for chasing this. It’s really no different that anyone who seeks drugs or alcohol. The addiction to drama though seems more tricky to acknowledge, given that it is a widely accepted practice and partaken by many.

     1. “The addiction to drama though seems more tricky to acknowledge, given that it is a widely accepted practice and partaken by many.”
        For many, including myself before knowing Universal Medicine, this is and was a known way of life – how life is ‘supposed to be’. Joan’s blog has clearly demonstrated how there is another way by choosing self love and responsibility.

536. I know what you mean Joan about how exhausting it is living in the roller coaster of emotions. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine have presented a far more consistent and loving way of living – one which is far less draining. My body, like yours, is benefiting tremendously from the choices I have made in support of this far more natural way of living.

     1. I agree James, the consistent loving way that is presented by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine does feel a natural way to be living, bringing balance and stability instead of the emotional ups and downs and with this sustaining energy and vitality.

     2. I have found the same Ariana – I used to have to ‘be perfect’ and do things ‘perfectly’ and not allow for any learning. But now seeing the world and every moment as an opportunity to learn, changes everything.

537. I fully agree Doug, the way Joan has changed since I first met her 5-7 years ago is a real testament to the choices she has made. Definitely time to celebrate Joan for all that she is. Thank you for sharing your wonderful self with us all Joan.

538. I’ve not been averse to entertaining a bit (lot) of drama in my life, creating situations that are difficult and challenging. However, when I see the extent to which drama and emotion dominates so many peoples lives I can’t help but now see the extreme harm in this and feel strongly that this is not at all how we are meant to be. I notice it now more and more in the films and tv shows, everything is a reaction, everything is an emotion, happy, sad, angry and so on. I am glad I now have role models that can fully show me how great life can be, free of emotional drama and reaction. I am glad I am learning to now “swim like a fish in the sea and not get wet”. Thanks for your blog Joan, it gives a lot of food for thought.

     1. I agree Stephen, dramas often does not just affect us. Although we can be brilliant at creating personal drama, the other lives we disturb in our permute of distraction cannot be discounted.

     2. From pre-empting most situations with a drama script I had written in my head to living with a willingness to be honest about that, honest about when I feed on all the drama and emotion around me and aware that there is another way and there are many people in my life now who inspire and support me with this total turn around.

     3. Thank you Stephen. I too, have been pondering how most people in life around me love a bit of emotional charge to relate and have fun, or play out some identity or personality in daily life.
        I too, used to be like this. Slowly over the years I have discovered the truth and stability of my inner self. I am a lot more quiet, as I tend more now to speak only when I feel there is something to be said or share. I don’t really need that stimulus and emotional connection I used to seek and thrive on. I used to think that ‘mediocrity’, the status quo or the ‘mainstream’ was so boring. I was reacting to a kind of dullness, or blankness I would feel from people. I looked to anything alternative, even if it seemed a little crazy. I thought that was better than ‘being straight’. In reality, neither excitement, ‘left of centre’ types, artists, entertainers nor the switched off life that a lot of people live is not our true way to be.
        I am still wondering the role of the creative type?..If I put that question to myself, I see that my sensitivity and awareness brings me the openness to the possibility to being another way in the world. The Ageless Wisdom teachings help me to discern what I perceive as being in harmony and rightness of the bigger picture for all concerned.

     4. You are true in saying this Stephen, most of human life and behaviour is dominated by the emotional reactions and dramas. What I am observing all day in my workplace is that people are either completely shut down (possibly because they are exhausted by it all), or they are in the midst of a reaction or emotion and expressing from this place. There is very little true stillness and connection. This is not a criticism on any, and I too am working on this within myself after many years of believing this was the way, to now make way for a more truly loving way of living and expressing. This also thanks to all that I have rediscovered about myself and life through the teachings of Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon.

     5. I’ve come to realise that drama breeds more drama… the more you get into the emotional world the more emotion there is to distract, pollute and generally get in the way of getting clear of it so we can feel what is truly going on. It’s a one way ticket that takes us away from our true selves.

539. So true, Joan. You have clearly outlined a different way of being that awaits us all when we are ready to give up the addictive outplay of our emotions, and simply stay connected to the truth that lives inside us. Everything can be known by staying in touch with our essence, and so there is no need for the drama or the struggle.

540. This is a great article thank you Joan, it will help remind me to check if there is a drama in anything, instead of just being with me and feeling.

541. As you have highlighted Joan, it is very easy to make a drama out of anything, and the results are draining. To understand that it does not have to be that way and to live in a way that supports you to not get into these emotional battles is a huge turn around and offers great encouragement in today’s society.

542. If we look around us, most are in reaction and emotionally charged, a lot of the time. How devastating on our bodies being like this. Living in a loving way and with a deeper understanding of ourselves and others makes such a difference. More flowing and rhythmic and the body just loves this way of being.

543. Joan I love this blog, and yes I can relate to it so much, the drama and complications are one that plays out for me too, yet are becoming less and less, and it is with thanks to Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon for presenting to me there is another way. I love this line “what I was looking for has always been there inside me, I was just not choosing to let go of my old attachments so that I could feel its presence” This is so simple and so true, I know when I have been addicted to emotions ( which is an awesome realisation that has come about through reading many blogs including yours) I thought they were part of me, but this is so not true, they were just a go to, to feel safe when really they just created more complications and drained me. I love the words letting go, my whole body smiles, feels lighter and I even let out a big sigh writing it. And it is as simple as that, just letting them go, saying you know what, I don’t need these in my life. I even find when people ask me how are you / how’s your day – the old pattern of drama will try to sneak into my head of going off on a story, but I say no, and share how I really am from me.

     1. The simplicity of letting go so accessibly expressed. Thank you Joan and Gyl. The feeling in my body when I simply let go – as in stop holding on to stuff that is burdensome and exhausting – is incredible and always paves the way for another level of honesty and revelation.

        1. Absolutely Matilda, space allows revelation.

     2. I chuckled when I read “when people ask me how are you / how’s your day – the old pattern of drama will try to sneak into my head of going off on a story” as I recognised it to be so very true for me too. I have noticed that at times it even feels like I actually try to reel in a drama and emotion when there is none! As I pay more attention and catch more instances and like you choose to feel and share how I really am, I am finding life is far more simple and I am stronger and more steady within myself.

        1. I too have caught myself trying to reel in drama, make a good story where there was none!

        2. Golnaz I know what you mean; I too have come to realise that I have looked for emotions, drama, woe of the day, when there is none. There is a huge difference and it is very clear when I am pulling in thought or stories into my head. I actually stop myself now, if I am about to start, even out loud and say that’s not true, or share with the person I am speaking with, “I was about to go off into some sort of woe, but actually there is nothing wrong, I am amazing and feel great, isn’t it amazing how these thoughts and stories try to sneak into our heads to tell us we are not okay, when really we are”.

544. Thank you Joan! I can certainly relate to the part about playing a drama queen and making things more difficult than what they need to be! Over the years I have learned to step away from this game, though at times I still find myself in it briefly. And in those brief moments I can feel the effect in my body, especially the exhaustion of the emotional tirade (external or internal). As you have so beautifully expressed it, it often comes from a need to get attention from another and for me it has also been about the need to feel validated in some way, a sort of reaction to the world for not being seen and met. Now that I too have built the self care and self love with the support of Universal Medicine, I am content with who I am and as I am, understanding of course that this too is an evolving and ever deepening process, and hence the drama is disappearing and no longer a part of my life nor is it something I feel I need nor want to have. Thank you Joan for putting all this into your blog – the words have come together so well to express what so many of us have experienced and can relate to.

     1. A great blog and great comments. Thank you, Joan and Henrietta. I have changed so much in the time I have been working with Universal Medicine. From emotion and drama addict, drawing people in, and wanting to be drawn in, to any crisis – feeding off the stimulation and excitement, to someone who is willing to go ‘behind the scenes’ and take responsibility for the stuff that is there that keeps me trapped. There are still many moments in my day when I can feel and recognise the triggers. The difference now is simply that I do not feed or roll with them. Instead I can listen attentively and responsibly to what the trigger is and be open to the opportunity to truly understand, feel and heal.

     2. Beautifully expressed Henrietta, and I also find myself still “in the game”. I realise that a lot of it is to do with wanting to keep the attention so I allow myself to go further and further, a bit like a dog holding onto its toy or bone. Occasionally I still get into an interchange with my partner that is defensive and stubborn. When I come out of it just a few minutes later I wonder where I have been! And it feels horrible, the energy I was in. However, this shows me that I am probably with myself and saying no to those risings of emotion more than I believe I am, through the continual practice of coming back to me and connecting with my true feeling.

545. I love your description Joan of emotions “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” I can resonate with this, although spent many years thinking otherwise. The key is to connect with the ‘feeling’ opposed to indulging in the ’emotion’. I have found there is a fine line, a point where there is the opportunity to choose not to go into the emotion but to stay and feel the feeling that is truly there.

546. Such a beautiful story Joan, thank you for reminding us of the folly of investing in emotional dramas
     “And the love continues” forever and always.

547. Joan, I can also say with the support of Universal Medicine, I have also been able to let go of emotional dramas and have created a more steadiness in myself, which is forever unfolding. The dramas were very exhausting.

548. Thank you Joan!

     I second this- ‘I appreciate how much Universal Medicine has assisted me to feel and listen to that deep innermost self and participate in my own healing. I have been supported lovingly all through my journey, which is always evolving.’

     For me- I have also felt a huge turn around- in me, the quality I live and the way I view life. Life is about people, connection, feelings, awareness and most of all LOVE. . . not the escaping of that or the emotions that don’t allow us to feel the depth of who we truly are.

     1. Reading about your experiences, Joan, I love the appreciation of all that you have learnt and how that opens up to the willingness to always be saying ‘what next?’ – not in a driven way, but in an inspired way, loving the lessons learnt to date and knowing there is more.

549. I have to agree Joan, our culture and upbringing does feed us to perpetuate our personal dramas, in the media and TV shows and movies etc. For many, drama is what fills their lives and friendships, in the absence of their own essence and love.

550. I used to believe the brief relief afforded by a catharsis was a healing too. You really hit the nail on the head when you said,
     “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.”
     Great blog, thanks Joan.

551. Awesome Joan. So enjoyed reading this blog. The art world is filled with indulgence in emotion and this is seen as great art. I was also caught up in this, thinking that the emotions were freeing me, but they just kept me going around and around in the hurt, but never healing me and this cycle kept me from being aware of my true feelings underneath. It’s only in the last few years that I have started to be able to see through it, and understand what is really going on. Thank you, it’s great to bring awareness to this subject which affects most of us everyday.

     1. The art world is becoming more and more emotional – good art being identified by the intensity of emotional response it illicits from the viewer. This feels to me just like a reflection of what Joan has talked about, that the ‘stiff upper lip’ approach has been replaced with the ‘let it all hang out’ approach…emotional outbursts have become almost fashionable and expected. It is so great to consider and start to understand the difference between feelings and emotions. Emotions being a reaction to feelings and in effect an avoidance of what is really going on. Whilst we indulge in our emotions we are dodging taking responsibility.

        1. I love your comment, Matilda you have a beautiful way of explaining things.

        2. I completely agree Matilda, the ‘let it all hang out’ approach is what prevails in “art” and “entertainment” nowadays. If a painting, a film, a television programme or a song does not induce intense emotion, it is no good. This constant pursuit of emotion takes us further away from who we are. Thank you Matilda for your comment.

552. Thanks for sharing Joan, there is so much wisdom there for everyone to learn from.
     Drama.. so many live that with stories they create about things going on around them with others and themselves also and the drive they can have to find it.

553. The support and love Universal Medicine practitioners and courses offer is enormous and wholly authentic. I agree with you completely Joan when expressing how you are now a participant in your own healing and the responsibility that brings. Really beautiful work Joan, so many gems and awarenesses that are beneficial to one’s healing journey and re-connection to our true inner selves.

554. That’s awesome that you have come out of that ’emotional’ state you were in. When we seek emotions and drama it feels like we are on the inside of a tornado – you don’t know where you are going to end up. It’s great you have actually taken control back over these emotions that were running you and you can definitely see more clearly.

     1. ‘When we seek emotions and drama it feels like we are on the inside of a tornado – you don’t know where you are going to end up’ – Great analogy Ariel; it can certainly feel out of our control.

555. In response to the lineages of ‘drama or not’ that you have spoken about here Joan, it is interesting to see that although society was very influenced by the lines through Aristotle and Freud carrying the drama virus, there was this other line, a line so powerful in truth that the people presenting it were put to death – Jesus and Socrates. ‘Wisdom and truth is always there waiting for us to align to it’.
     Thank you again for this great blog.

556. Awesome blog Joan. I can relate to much of your personal experience and addiction to drama, especially the seeking outside of one’s self for attention and recognition.
     Thank you for so simply spelling out the difference between a true feeling and the emotional cover up that can distract us from actually feeling ourselves in full.

557. Joan! thank you for writing this blog; you have uncovered something I have fed myself all my life in order to not feel something that is going on. I had used drama in an internal way, I used it to judge myself and others, always running a script, keeping me in anxiousness, not allowing life to just be. I made it my way of coping with the world. But the more I used it the less I could feel. By “Reliving the experience emotionally through my body” going into an energy, I would loose myself as I was relating the story; it was like being sucked away from me. It is only now reading your blog that I can feel ever so subtlety how I had still been going into this energy. Pretense and protection feel like the true meaning of drama.

     1. Wow, missspringclean, your comment has brought me an understanding of using drama in an internal way that has also been part of my life and I had not been aware of in this way –
        “to judge myself and others, always running a script, keeping me in anxiousness, not allowing life to just be. I made it my way of coping with the world. But the more I used it the less I could feel”.
        Over the years of attending Universal Medicine presentations I have been deeply inspired to trust feeling more and more in my body and deal with the hidden hurts – the previous constant anxiousness and judgements are no longer part of my life.

558. Describing emotional drama as cathartic is so spot on. I can absolutely relate to this and how comforting I have found it in the past…as it was mostly my state of being.

559. Joan your article has an incredible ability to dismantle the stranglehold that emotions have on our society. Currently the people of the world see emotion as the cornerstone to life. We don’t even question emotion as part of who we intrinsically are and yet is it emotion that is keeping us from who we really are. How ironic that the thing we feel identifies us as who we are is the same thing that prevents us from our true identity! We need to keep dismantling the myths and living the truth so that eventually we are all left to be who we truly are.

560. In the past I was very much addicted to emotions and drama, and along with that addiction, I was very good at making my life complicated and very very serious….thus everthing was a constant struggle… These days I prefer the simple life, and the simple way of living as is presented by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine which has completely turned my life around and I actually love keeping things super simple.

     1. Yes, I can relate to your comment jacqmcfadden04 – a big ouch with “making my life complicated and very very serious”. There is much more joy and playfulness within as I continue to simplify my life by not choosing complexity as a normal way of living. I am deeply inspired from the presentations by Serge Benhayon, Universal Medicine, as simplicity is more the ‘new normal’ in my everyday living.

561. I used to do something called Trance Dance, where you dance very freely and express your emotions – very cathartic with people crying, whaling and writhing to the emotionally charged music. I remember feeling really ‘charged’ and exhilarated while doing the dance, but later in the day and for days after, I would feel absolutely exhausted and need to rest. Nothing was healed, or changed in my life, it was simply momentary relief and a feel good experience.

562. All the different ways that we can use our emotions to get recognition and to override what we are truly feeling can be so draining. Thanks to Universal Medicine presentations on how if we reconnect back with ourselves and feel what we have been avoiding, it gives us a great opportunity to heal our hurts and to have a deeper understanding of ourselves, which I have found is so freeing.

563. I feel that most of us have needed the emotional drama at some point in their lives. A draining rollercoaster which I wish I took less often, if not at all,

564. Joan this is a great story – it sounded exhausting living with all that drama! But one I can recognise because I’ve also been able to make a drama out of things! Whether that’s making a job more difficult than it’s needed to be or choosing to escalate a situation, it was all very draining – until I started to learn how to keep things simple by coming back to the fact of my essence and it always being there to connect to.

     1. Yes Rosanna I can really relate to making a job more difficult and escalating situations as a way of distracting myself from the emptiness of my life and then not understanding why I felt so exhausted! Choosing to trust my inner essence and committing to building a consistency in my life has transformed it and given me purpose and also deep joy.

565. I spent 5 years investing in a spiritual new age catharsis process which I can say, looking back, set me back for at least as many years.

     1. I have to laugh at your comment Dean as I spent 25+ years in my spiritual new age catharsis process which made my body age inside by at leat that many years. I was looking older and creating drama as Joan talks about in this great blog and it was how I got through my days. It was incessant and I had no idea I was doing all this to get attention, be identified and seek recognition. Today it seems so boring and an utter waste of time but back then it was all I knew. It filled up the empty days and the empty feeling that was never going away.
        Once I came across the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, I learnt how to connect to the real me and then commit to developing a real and true relationship with myself. This meant no more seeking anything outside of me to define me or make me feel full inside. I had the simple tool and it came from learning how to breathe my own breath.
        Imagine if our kids learnt this at nursery school – the long term benefits to our society would be incredible – really.

        1. True and a lot of people can relate to your experience. What is miraculous is that whilst the spiritual new age shennangens continue to this day, Universal Medicine presents a natural way of living that is drama free and fulfilling if life to the deepest level.

566. Very cool blog, Joan. I used to be totally addicted to drama too – and got lots of attention for it as a performer, and also it was the way I often thought I could deeply connect with other people – in grand, gushy, over-the-top dramatic expressions. But now I know that was all just seeking for attention and outward validation. How delightful it is today to really feel my true feelings and express them to others in way that is respectful to all and supports real loving connection between us – without need or drama or outward seeking.

     1. I am really touched by what you say Deborah. It is amazing that we are now having in the world performers who can relate truly and in brotherhood – a breath of fresh air!

567. Joan I can really relate to, ‘I continually worried about getting things right, which was a horrible way to spend my life.’ Your blog has really raised my awareness of this being a very effective way of continually being in drama and avoiding what I really felt and who I really am.

     I have lived most of my life distracting myself from who I truly am in this way. It is no wonder that, until I came to Universal Medicine, I felt very empty and lonely because I was missing me. I love reading your blog as it encourages me to become more aware of when I choose drama and that I am so worth returning to.

     1. I can relate to this too Karin, ‘I continually worried about getting things right, which was a horrible way to spend my life.’ Interesting to read what you have written here, ‘this being a very effective way of continually being in drama and avoiding what I really felt and who I really am.’ I had not considered this before, but it makes sense if I’m always worried about getting things right then I’m not going to be living who I truly am, thank you for this insight.

568. What you have shared is gold. So many people only feel alive when they are emotional or experiencing drama, often whipping others up in their storm. I loved the plain, undeniable fact of your experience that 13 years of therapy and lots of catharsis did nothing to resolve any emotional issues. Kind of puts that theory to rest!

     1. Well said Fiona- Joan’s blog does put that theory of being emotional and ‘alive’ to rest!

     2. That’s an interesting point Fiona, that ‘ many people feel alive when they are emotional or experiencing drama ‘. I relate to this well and this was how I lived for many years. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine supported me to change this, bringing more balance to my life, listening to what I feel then responding, something I continue to work with.

     3. I agree Fiona, people do only feel alive when they are caught up in something – even when it is painful or a bad experience, for some if this is the only drama available it is better than nothing. How is it that as a race of beings we have got to a point that we cannot live and enjoy life without struggle or drama? I guess it is because the way we live is so far from our inner essence, that we are constantly looking for something to fill the emptiness we feel when we are not ourselves.

     4. Absolutely Fiona. It is pretty evident from Joan’s experience that this method does not work at all. I must say that I feel more alive now having studied with Universal Medicine for 7 years than I ever did by being dramatic and emotional.

569. Thank you Joan, the feeling of ‘been there done that’ comes to mind. My emotional charged life before Serge Benhayon was only at best hardening me so much so that I did not recognise the hurts and emotions. It has been inspiring to read your blog on how Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon have presented a different way of living that is evolutionary and healing.

570. Joan thank you for your great blog. Looking at how the media works, TV, movies, magazines etc are all about inciting our emotions which gets us hooked. I’ve noticed the more free I am of emotions the more free I actually feel, more free just to be me which really is the best feeling of all.

     1. Yes so true Kate, we use emotions to entertain and hook in the audience but life is so much more enjoyable on an even keel, feeling and responding to what life offers, rather than being tossed around on a sea of emotions. Universal Medicine has shown me how to make a steady connection with myself and these days I get far less emotional and life is much more enjoyable. Joan’s journey is certainly a great example of how much we can enjoy life when we let go of the emotional drama.

571. ” An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.”
     Wise words indeed Joan, as is your whole article, much of which I can deeply relate to.

572. ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.’ This should be written in any book talking about emotions, this is gold Joan. Thank you.

     1. I agree Sally, there is so much confusing and contradictory words written about emotions – yet they simply “arise in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves”.

     2. True wisdom in this quote of Joan’s, Sally. Our education system would do well to include as part of it’s basic curriculum, what Joan has presented here. Indeed, gold!

573. Wow the way of drama, this is a great expose of how drama works and what we get from it which is not much….it’s actually an avoidance of what we are feeling deeply, and coming back to ourselves….God forbid, maybe what we would actually find is something amazing, our essence.

574. It is quite astounding how much time is freed up when we are not invested in being emotional. The emotional roller coaster ride is completely exhausting.

     1. Absolutely Elizabeth, rather than feeling the feeling we have a emotional reaction to it and we are off and running on a destructive distraction with the undealt with feeling still in our bodies.

     2. So exhausting and leads nowhere just round and round the same old stuff. I did this for years always pretending that I was actually getting somewhere in life … but I wasn’t in fact it got worse! Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine helped me get off the roller coaster, thank goodness. My life isn’t perfect there is still a lot to learn, heal and change but now this unfolds with a steady committment and consistency.

     3. Indeed Elizabeth. I would rehash and relive supposed hurts or slights from others, making myself sick in the process. It felt like being for ever trapped in a cycle of negative emotions with no way out. I am not free of emotions but I have gained an awareness of my responsibility in choosing to not react to them but instead observe and feel in my body when confronted with something painful.

        1. The emotional roller coaster ride is a complete wash-out which leaves us beached and floundering. It takes us out of our natural element LOVE and leaves us gasping for air.

           I too would feel sick with emotions and also sick of emotions but still didn’t refuse their habitation in my house! I gave them credence and validity and instead tried to absent myself from what seemed to be the incident or person that supposedly ’caused’ me to have them. What an ignorant game!

575. I too found their was no healing in reliving past hurtful situations emotionally, in-fact I found it compounded and expanded the pain so next time I felt it the pain was more dramatic and emotionally charged than the previous encounter.

     1. Me too Toni- for me though I tended to go into the over reaction of when things were not as they should be or when I got hurt. It was very damaging and a reflection of how much I invested in the way things and people needed to be or how I took things personally all the time. Now I seem to be able to just observe and respond- and on the slight or off occasion where I catch myself reacting or taking something personally, I now have the awareness and the will to look at that.

        1. Wow this is beautiful Johanna. It is true freedom, no longer dictated to by our emotions and reactions, it is a miracle to be able to let these old ways of doing things go in today’s society.

576. There is some great insight into the difference between emotions and feelings, something for me to reflect on. Thank you for sharing.

     1. Absolutely Christine. For me feelings are just there to be felt and when I am honest with them I feel supported in the connection I have with myself. But emotions, I find take me away- leaving me debased to handle what needs to be looked at or dealt.

577. Thank you Joan, great blog. I was on that roller coaster also before I came across Serge Benhayon and Universal medicine. Once I stepped off the emotional roller coaster I could see how people use emotions as a stimulant. When they are tired they will start a fight and feed off the drama. I was not aware of it when I was in the thick of it though as the emotions really do cloud one’s vision. I now know a great replacement for emotional dramas is self care.

     1. So true Kathleen, I’ve noticed that when I’m tired or not caring for myself that everything becomes bigger than what it actually is and emotions come in to play.

578. The other night I glanced at the TV as I walked through the lounge room and noticed the same interviewer, that I do every time I stumble upon her, doing her utmost to bring out the most emotional responses in her interviewees. This always strikes me as off putting, like she is feeding on the emotions of others somehow. I feel like it is what people want, because they don’t know another way. It is so great that you have thrown a new light on this attitude, and another way that is more loving and truthful.

579. A beautiful sharing Joan and one I relate to well. From the age of 12 I was involved in amateur dramatics and attempted drama school application, all on the foundation of being recognised and a plea to be accepted and noticed. This played on into my 30’s. Now in my forties I have reached the same conclusion as you have expressed here. I no longer require a roller coaster of emotions to feel alive and from the presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine it has become super clear that all the love I sought and craved on the outside was actually a yearning for me to re-connect to my inner essence in the knowing that is who I truly am.

580. This is such an awesome blog, and one that speaks volumes of how we can get trapped in the cycle of thinking that we are healing ourselves when in fact we are just burying our issues deeper. It wasn’t until I discovered Universal Medicine that I understood how I can truly heal….and the riding the roller coaster of emotions is definitely not the way.

581. Joan I totally agree with the support of Universal Medicine we can let go of our emotional dramas and embrace each day with a steadiness and understanding of ourselves and others that allows a freedom and flow in our days.

582. ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves’. Thanks for pointing this out so clearly- to see an arising emotion as an escape gives you a great chance to go in observing instead of riding the emotion; because this will not heal or change anything.

583. Thank you Joan what a fantastic turn around, a great insight into emotions and feelings. I can relate to the ups and downs of emotions, riding them and how draining it is. ‘ One thing I can trust is my inner essence ‘ this is something I too am discovering thanks to Universal Medicine and to live life from this which brings me balance and greatly improved health and energy levels.

584. A great blog, Joan. A roller coaster of emotions is indeed exhausting and leads nowhere. “The one thing I can trust is my inner essence.” Love this. Feelings not emotions are the key and pre discovering Universal Medicine I was confused as to their two different meanings.

     1. Sue I too didn’t understand the difference between feelings and emotions prior to discovering Universal Medicine. I spent so much energy going into my emotions in the belief I was releasing them, when really I was jumping from one emotional pool into another and getting exhausted. Now I am so much more aware, emotions are self evident and I rarely immerse myself in them but choose to ‘trust is my inner essence.’

        1. I have made this change too Karin and it is so amazing to feel the difference and finally not be ruled by emotions. It feels like magic to observe them and let them pass and lose their power. This is becoming more and more natural and is very freeing.

     2. Me too Sue, knowing the difference between feelings and emotions gives me a true freedom of choice. How liberating is that!

        1. I add my name to the list of people who didn’t know the difference between feelings and emotions. To think how much I indulged in films that left me an emotional wreck, or at least tearful, with a box of tissues nearby. That was a good night out!

        2. So true. Most of us, myself included, did not know the difference between an emotion and a true feeling. Nor did we know the difference between true love and emotional love. Before Universal medicine we were living like the shadows in Plato’s cave.

     3. As a man, high (or low) emotion always distressed me, leaving me wanting to run away. But as a sometime musician, all these ‘ahhtists’ talked about was connecting with people’s emotions, and preciously expressing theirs.
        I was confused: emotions felt toxic to me but seemed highly valued by many. . . I ended up concluding I was an emotional illiterate but sadly, swamped my real feelings in a torrent of booze.
        Like Joan, all this was an unresolved mystery until Serge Benhayon cast his inimitable light on it, revealing the difference between emotions and feelings and showing a way to shrug off the former and treasure the latter. Utter relief and sweet liberation are puny words to describe this unburdening, but for now they will suffice.
        Thank you Joan for sharing your story, and for becoming you.

     4. Yes Lorraine, I was a great one for getting immersed in the emotions of films, sometimes feeling exhausted, scared, unsettled, disturbed, sad, exhilarated, what an impact on my body.

     5. How right you are Sue, feelings are the key. The key to ourselves and much to more.
        Just today I have had so many confirmations in what a difference trusting my feelings can make – this was an experience I never would have thought to be truly possible.
        This has allowed me to feel on a much deeper level the difference between feelings and emotions.

585. It’s so true what you have highlighted here Joan; we are a culture addicted to emotional catharsis! I never knew that Aristotle promoted this but I did know that he espoused a more reductionist view of the world when compared to the more wholistic view of his processors, so I must say I am not surprised…

     These words are very healing to hear; ‘Thirteen years of therapy and re-living my past through re-experiencing it emotionally changed nothing; it just buried my feelings deeper in my body. I would have an emotional reaction to any feelings that surfaced in order to protect myself further from the pain and then I would identify with and indulge in that emotion, thinking it was the feeling, but it wasn’t.” – thank you.

586. Thank you Joan, I am also learning how to no longer live a life fuelled by drama, which for me was always an indulgence in my issues. And what has most supported me in this transformation is the decision to pay close attention to the quality of my relationships with everyone, leaving no one out and including every single person I meet – no matter what.

     1. I love this Shami- ‘And what has most supported me in this transformation is the decision to pay close attention to the quality of my relationships with everyone, leaving no one out and including every single person I meet – no matter what.’

        Awesome way to be!

587. Thank you Joan, your blog makes so much sense. It is the norm to believe that being emotional is good for us and will heal us, but as you have stated, it is in fact harming to our health. I find that if I dwell on things too much I feel worse and weighed down with the problem, only later to find that it’s not as bad as I had imagined – over thinking and getting too involved in drama is definitely not good for our health.

     1. I completely agree Julie – over thinking a problem so that it seems a million times worse than it actually is – it is great to see it as a way to create drama and beat myself up.

588. Beautiful Joan. I loved reading this – letting go of the strong hold that emotions can have on us is a great thing to do as life becomes so much more simple, less exhausting and more real and loving.

589. Thank you Joan for this incredibily inspirational and very real sharing of the changes you have made in your life. The exhaustion of living in one’s emotions and the constant need for drama I can relate to as a way of being I no longer choose also since meeting Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, and being shown and supported with another far more loving way of being.

590. Wow – to know you now Joan it is evident that this need for drama has clearly been changed as I see you living in a gentle and caring way towards yourself. I love how you have explained the difference between emotions and feelings, thank you.

591. Joan I love this blog, – “don’t make a drama out if this” and I turn my attention to what matters.” – how simple is this.

592. Working in the corporate environment I see addiction to drama often, and have in the past lived that way. It is as if it is a badge of honour and that if you aren’t in the midst of dramatic issues, you aren’t really working! These days after all the support and guidance I have received from Universal Medicine I see the world through clear lenses, and as well as improving dramatically in not reacting to issues, I help those around me to also see their wellbeing and their time is worth way more than living in drama.

593. Thank you Joan for so openly sharing your story. What a great understanding to see and feel the difference between emotion and feeling and how we use emotions to distract ourselves from what is there to be felt. I was addicted to drama at some point in my life, not visible on the outside but always seeing all the problems and crisis’ ahead and taking on every problem in my family. And in spiritual healing workshops I attended I felt catharsis was it, that that was what healing was about only to find down the road that the hurt was still there. Not until Universal Medicine have I learned and experienced true and lasting healing and a way of being that does not take on or create other peoples drama’s as my own.

594. Yes, Joan, I have experienced and do experience this many times. Something feels too unbearable and suddenly I am in an emotion. It takes a while to get out of that roller coaster because the more we react and are emotional the more we continue to react but once I was largely out of it my life became much simpler.

     Now with each time I stay aware instead of reacting my life becomes simpler and more enjoyable. I would never have thought that my emotions – any emotions – are the key to feeling bad and staying aware and just seeing what is going on without reacting is the key to feeling quite amazing.

     Simple really. It just takes a while once you know.

595. On reflecting on your blog again Joan, there is a recollection of someone I once knew who was always being called a “drama queen” – and this was always followed by “and that’s just who they are” – I can see the wisdom of my own understanding now that there is another way of viewing all things that indeed behind all that ‘drama’ was a very empty and hurt being that was only seeking to be met – and the drama was a choice of platform to express this. It is quite an unfortunate thing I feel when ones are ‘labelled’ this or that and constantly impacted by others’ belief systems without any true comprehension of what the one thus labelled is endeavouring to impart by their expression. Thank you for sharing your story.

596. Reading this was very familiar to me Joan, as I have used drama as an excuse to not feel what comes up in me in certain situations. I learnt from a young child that living a drama filled life and being emotional, got attention but also got people to back off and leave me alone. I smiled when you shared this – “I say to myself “don’t make a drama out if this” and I turn my attention to what matters.” as it has also supported me to stop and make a different choice. Beautiful to read how you live your life now.

597. Superb Joan thank you. I can so relate to being addicted to drama in the past. I used indulging in drama as a tool to stop me from feeling the emptiness that I had inside. This was exhausting and it came to point where I realised enough is enough, and that life would be so enjoyable if I was less emotional! It is though the presentations of Universal Medicine & Serge Benhayon and by having Esoteric Healing sessions that I have been able to truly look at my hurts and heal them without going into a dramatic catharsis. This has been life changing and I am pleased to report I no longer hold the drama queen title 🙂

598. Really enjoyed ready your article Joan. It very clearly shows how we can get caught it the drama of life, even addicted to it as a form of entertainment, distraction, need to be recognised ect, and the many emotions it feeds. Emotional reactions are indeed exhausting and a waste of our energy that could be otherwise used to feel what is there, and then respond.

     1. Absolutely Victoria – it can feed many emotions and is definitely a form of entertainment and distraction.

599. I can relate to so much that you have shared here Joan. I also notice, traveling in Asia recently, how many people out there are becoming gripped by emotionally charged soap opera programmes on the television, some of which run three times a day. It seems the whole world now is being cajoled into an emotional way of being, There are so few role models showing us how to turn this around and live a life of love and joy – there are definitely some within Universal medicine and for that I am in deep appreciation.

     1. That’s interesting Elaine, I saw the same sort of thing in a village in Fiji, where there would be as many people as possible gathered around an old TV getting a fix. Personally I used to love movies and watch them regularly. Since working on myself with the principles offered by Universal Medicine I find I no longer have the same need of entertainment and watch very very few movies these days. Mostly I just do not want to be taken on the emotional journey being offered by the filmmaker.

600. Re-reading this blog, Joan, I remembered that I had some things to say about catharsis and emotions. Many years ago I paid a visit to an ashram in India to learn about meditation. I tried a bunch of them. One was very cathartic – it was about releasing all the anger stored up inside you. After I finished the course I vowed never to do it again. What I could feel is that by doing this every day, I was not clearing the anger but reinforcing it continually, embedding it deeper and deeper into my body. After that, I worked in brain research and learned about how repeated behaviours strengthen nerve connections and pathways to make that behaviour much more habitual and easy to run. So my earlier feelings about that cathartic meditation made sense – constantly running the emotion through your body DOES ‘deepen the groove’ and make the emotion very habitual and easy to express. And who really wants anger, or any other harming emotion, to be that deeply ground in and apt to rise easily? In this way I feel that a lot of the ‘release your emotions’ and cathartic stuff offered by the New Age is very damaging. We want to clear our toxic emotions, not keep reinforcing them!

     1. It is so great to have your scientific affirmation, Diane, and so clear from your description of repeated behaviour strengthening nerve connections and pathways to make the behaviour much more habitual, that catharsis is harming rather than healing. I love it when you bring the scientific and the philosophical and the psychological together and make such sense.

        1. Much sense indeed Dianne and Joan, and such a relevation knowing that catharsis is harming rather than healing.

        2. One thing I did not menion, ladies, though it comes to mind reading your replies: the opposite of catharsis, which is repression. I remember coming across the idea on TV in the sixties, where Mr Spock and his people meditated and practised great discipline to ‘repress their emotions’. But it was all on the outside, and the emotions were still there bottled up and ready to explode any time the outward control was lost, which of course it has a habit of doing! Are there religions and schools today who still use this repression method? Perhaps…. However it seems to me just as harmful as catharsis, not healing the underlying patterns, just keeping the lid on them. I far prefer the way learned from Serge Benhayon and Universal Mediciine: to be aware of your own body, feelings and all around you truthfully, observe but not absorb or indulge, change choices to support the body to wellbeing so those old patterns have less power, and thus embark on true healing.

        3. Well said Dianne. Repression may seem to some like a good alternative to catharsis, yet they are both different arms of the same octopus. Yes, Serge Benhayon’s inspiring approach to stepping away form drama is the best! Because it is true.

     2. Thank you Dianne for your comment it was beautiful to read and awesome to have a confirmation from science that “running an emotion through the body ….make the emotion very habitual and easy to express.” I agree in full we want to clear out our emotions not keep reinforcing them! Well said!

     3. This is very interesting Dianne and a great confirmation of Joan’s article. It makes perfect sense.

601. For me, emotions used to be something that was no good, something poisonous, something that had to be put away, hidden from the others, for a long time. Then I understood emotions to be the end result of suppressed/buried/unexpressed feelings – this gave me an entitlement to ‘process’ them, catharsis was the way to go. I thought I was releasing them, but in fact I was indulging in and getting identified with my own emotionality, and I became it. What Serge Benhayon presented made sense to me in that without understanding who and what we really are first, emotions get misunderstood and misplaced in our development.

602. Thank you for this insightful article. Roller coaster. Oh boy do I know that one .. or I should really say knew that one, as no longer live this; but now have a steady consistency (although it could be a lot steadier!) which feels good indeed. I too also lived on emotion, even at one point in my life thinking emotion was the answer! I know very crazy. Like you, Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine have been a true inspiration reflecting to, and showing me and many others there is another more harmonious way to live; that is not emotional, seeking on the outside, a roller coaster but in fact committed, loving, consistent, steady and harmonious with all. Also what you said about ‘reliving the experience emotionally through the body and even acting it out physically.’ took me back to what I used to do continually, which is both damaging and draining; but in writing this you have uncovered and exposed what many do. We have so much to truly learn about our bodies and the way we are living, we have not even touched the surface of this or even aware what the energetic truth really is.

603. It is remarkable how much in society is based on dramas and emotions. This blog is very insightful in bringing our attention to it and the possibility that there may be a more loving way.

604. Beautiful Joan, I too have lived on the emotional roller coaster and thought that was what made me who I am – how very different the truth is! We are not our dramas, they are just distractions to not feel who we truly are. I know that I am a tender, loving, gentle woman and being this is more than enough not to create extra problems just for the attention or entertainment of it. Thank you for sharing

605. After reading your blog, Joan, I was reflecting on my own need for drama. While I didn’t get a ‘feed’ from the more public forms of drama, like theatre, I definitely was ‘feeding’ from personal drama – and creating drama after drama to keep my drip flowing. There is such joy in the harmonious day to day un-eventfulness of life nowadays. Don’t get me wrong, there are still events, some disastrous and some exciting and fun but I don’t send myself to the moon and back with each one of them which means I can handle the lows with ease and don’t crash after the highs. Such smooth sailing when we are connected to our divine source and purpose.

606. I love the way you have gathered up those runaway emotions and taken charge of your own healing Joan. This is a big turn around as emotions can be a rather addictive thing – so it says heaps about the power of the Ageless Wisdom, the quality of support and example from Serge Benhayon and other Universal Medicine practitioners.

     1. I agree Rosanna, Serge Benhayon presents very clearly the difference between an emotion and a feeling and learning to feel the difference and be honest about where I am at, for example feeling something or in reaction and being emotional, has changed my life and I feel so much better for it.

607. On re-reading this amazing blog I am really intrigued by your statement Joan, ‘With the “stiff upper lip” disappearing, emotions have become the way of expressing and are viewed as essential and often mistaken for true feeling.’ The ‘stiff upper lip’ is a traditional British stance in this circumstance which I did not come across until I later travelled and spent a lot of time in the UK. Would you say that this is just performing the same duty as ‘the drama queen’– i.e. controlling so that one will not have to face the ‘deep underlying feeling ‘– except presented in a contrasting guise?

     1. Yes, Lyndy, I would say that the suppression of showing emotion IS another guise, as in order to do that we have to contract and become rigid, and that is not going to open the way to allowing our feeling to be felt. Also it further removes us from the opportunity of living who we truly are. All becomes a “front” to protect the fragile and powerful beings we are.

608. Joan thank you, this is excellent, you so clearly share the difference between an emotion or cathartic experiences deliberately played on by film/theatre, and a true feeling, with your words, “with the ‘stiff upper lip’ disappearing, emotions have become the way of expressing and are viewed as essential and often mistaken for true feeling”. And then, “through my study with Universal Medicine I began to understand how attachment to and indulgence in emotions causes our illnesses”. Imagine if we were educated this way at school or university. Powerful post full of universal truths that serve humanity.

609. I love you blog Joan, thank you for sharing. I relate to it so much it could almost have been written about me. At school emotions and drama are always in fashion and they are so easy to get involved in or create – but in reality they are simply a distraction from feeling my own essence and connecting to people on a deeper level.

610. Joan, I relate to everything you have written. I was just the same and could spin something out into a drama for days..weeks…months… years even. My fantasy life was rich, playing out every terrible possible consequence and living out before it had happened. Generally it did not happen. My catharsis was the fact that my imagined horror story did not take place.
     It was a horrendous way to live, because every high was going to be followed by its equal, seemingly greater low. Zero consistency, just a life of oscillation that I thought was normal coming from a family with a flair for drama. My mother (now deceased) was the exemplar for the emotional human being. Beside her I looked moderate and quite restrained. My body however bore the consequences, with terrible impact of constant anxious drama on my nervous system.

     This point fascinated me and makes so much sense of modern psychotherapy and the fact that I never found healing through straight re-enactment of past dramas:

     “It was Aristotle who claimed that re-living traumas by emotionally experiencing, then playing them out in the theatre, was the answer to resolve issues and heal. Freud was influenced by Aristotle and this influence has been fed into the psychotherapy movement, whereas Universal Medicine is a part of the continual unfolding of The Ageless Wisdom, through such teachers as Socrates and Jesus.”
     And this great concluding point:
     “Both were condemned to death for questioning the value of accepted beliefs and for teaching that we all have responsibility for our own healing.”

     I thank God for the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom and my own commitment to living a life without catharsis, drama and their peaks and troughs.

611. Learning to modify my emotional responses has been greatly assisted by healing sessions that have assisted me to let go of long held stuff in my body. As this process continues I am more able to make the link between how I have chosen to escape from the things I could not face and have lived without being truly connected to myself. Thanks Joan for sharing your experience on a topic that is holding a great many people in chains.

612. I have been aware of a kind of “notion” that affirms catharsis as an energetically “sophisticated” thing to do, but, as presented, this is incredibly exhausting, a long with “processing”. Thank you Joan for writing this.

     1. Thank you for this article Joan. As Ryoko has commented, there is a widespread belief amongst spiritual practices and schools of thought that catharsis of our emotions is a way to heal from these emotions. Having gone down that road some years back I can attest that this is very untrue. All catharsis does is keep us locked up in the emotional dramas. We become them and get a kick out of them! That is not healing it’s actually cementing the emotions more into our bodies.

613. A great observation about the theatre. I had been really into ‘feeling’ my emotions and believing that was the way to resolve my issues. However, it seemed never ending. Like you it was not until I met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and allowed myself to feel my feelings that I am at long last actually resolving my issues rather than just going round in circles and burying my problems deeper into my body.

614. What an incredible turnaround and deep insight you are sharing here Joan. What I can relate to is that until I met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, I too had always been seeking outside of myself to find the answers, to find me.

615. “I would have an emotional reaction to any feelings that surfaced in order to protect myself further from the pain and then I would identify with and indulge in that emotion, thinking it was the feeling, but it wasn’t. An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.”
     Joan, this is such a clear picture of the game that I had also been caught in, now if I go to relive an emotional story my body is speaking very loud and clear to me. “Don’t make a drama out of this” is a great stop!

616. Great article Joan, I can feel how exhausting it is to live in emotions and not being able to observe what is really going on.. But having found the way to listen to our bodies and feel what is going is an amazing gift.

     1. Very true Benkt, so exhausting. I have had a friendship over the last five years that has been full of emotional dramas. Recently, we have been re-acquainted and the love is there, without the emotions, and this feels so freeing and allows us both to be our true selves without the attachment of drama.

617. I too can relate to the life of drama. It is very consuming and does indeed keep oneself on the roller coaster.

618. Joan thank you, it is a super-important point you have raised here – the enormous difference between a feeling and an emotion! This statement you make is GOLD…

     ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.’

     When I learnt the difference between these two things, my life changed too. I was not a drama queen, but most definitely mistook the two and spent a number of years believing that the more I was prepared to feel and express my emotions, but faster I would heal. Like you, it got me nowhere other than a small relief at the time. Nothing of what was truly felt, BEFORE the emotion came up, was ever gotten to… and hence was buried under the illusion of ‘working on my stuff through my emotions’.
     To understand that an emotion is merely a reaction to something more deeply felt, and that what is felt must be connected with, is critical if we are to heal. This I can attest to personally, and in practise over many years this has confirmed itself more times over than I can tell you.

619. Wow I loved reading this blog and it helped me realise how different my body feels now that I am not being ruled by emotions. I created a life full of drama and emotion for many years and I also participated in psychotherapy training where becoming angry and hitting pillows was thought to be a healing, but it was not. It was so draining on the body. It is believing that an emotion is a feeling that has everyone fooled. Since becoming a student of Universal Medicine I now understand that the emotion is just a cover up to prevent us being honest about the feeling underneath, which if recognised and felt brings true healing.

620. Joan your article is pure gold. I too was a drama queen and can totally relate to all that you say. I totally believed that a rich emotional life made me real, that moving a person to tears was a good thing in all forms of art and public speaking, but now I see it as illusional, a great escape from actually feeling what is deep inside, which I have found to a be a truly healing experience. My life has certainly transformed since meeting Serge Benhayon and attending the Universal Medicine presentations and workshops. Now when emotions arise they feel foreign to me and I immediately address the situation.

621. I really enjoyed reading your blog! “Slowly I am learning to stay with myself and put these things into practice.”
     That part reflects the appreciation of where you had come from and is a great inspiration to others, that there is a way out of the draining circle of emotions.

622. Very inspiring to read your blog Joan, thank you for sharing it.
     It has given me further insights into the drama and emotions I have created and lived by in my life.
     I was also in therapy for years being encouraged to express and act out these emotions in an attempt to heal myself, but as you said, just burying them deeper in my body.
     Thanks to the work of Serge Benhayon and the practitioners of Universal Medicine I have been able to start to bring true healing in my life now.

623. I had no idea what catharsis was when I first started reading the blog- I was surprised when I found it was about reliving emotional experiences and that performers often aimed for this in there performances. I know I can get stuck in the emotions of situations and have the situation replaying in my head, so, basically reliving the emotion in my body..

624. Thank you Joan for this great blog. Very interesting and insightful. You describe a clear distinction between emotions and feelings which has supported me in my awareness of how I can still at times allow emotions to take hold. I love how you bring in the historical context of therapy and how therapy that attaches importance to re-living and re-experiencing emotions took hold and to this day is still the pervasive thinking. The teachings presented by Universal Medicine are ground breaking in how they reveal the harm and ill health that living emotionally causes.

625. So good to expose this addiction to emotions Joan, which gives us a sense of identity as being a somebody when really it’s just a lot of hot air being expressed for no true purpose. Great to hear how you changed from someone reliant on this to being more in charge of your life. It shows it is possible to be more vigilant so we do not allow ourselves to be at the mercy of our emotions and yet how important it is to feel what is happening in our bodies so we are not run by something that is not who we are.

626. What has stood out for me is that emotional expression can be ‘Loud’ and it can also be very ‘silent’. I used to shut down, not speak, lock others out as a way of punishing them without realising I was actually punishing myself, and locking emotional responses which then caused physical symptoms/illness in. Thanks to Universal Medicine Teachings – today I am very different. I feel what is going on and allow it to come up, letting it go and connect to the truth of the love within me. Everything in my life is changing as a result of this way – my health, my relationships, the level of joy in everyday. I laugh more, I appreciate more, I notice small miracles as they happen and most importantly I am spending more time in ‘Real’ relationship with me.

627. Hi Joan, thank you for your blog and I can clearly confirm that I have also been able to free myself and my life and myself from over reacting and making life one big drama. I love my life to be simple and without drama now, thanks to what I have been able to learn by listening to Serge Benhayon and attending Universal Medicine events.

628. Thank you Joan for your open sharing about drama and emotions and where these come from:
     ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.’ And I agree the true connection with ourselves, and from there with others, is what life is about.

629. Joan, your words ‘By continually observing the quality of my body, letting the feelings surface and then choosing not to indulge in any emotions that arise in reaction to them, there is no need for a catharsis which takes me away from myself, suppresses the feelings again and locks the emotions in my body.’ are a timely support to me. Thank you.

630. Emotions can be very addictive as we swing from one high or low to another. We also become identified by our emotions and think this is what makes us human and who we are as a person so no wonder we are invested in fuelling them through drama, art and music. I use to believe that I was emotionally immature/stunted as I could not control or get a grip on how I reacted to life.
     Through working with Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I came to realise it was actually the way I was reacting to life that was making me emotionally unstable and that once I learnt to observe and feel what was going on around me and in my own body I could be more honest about what was happening and begin to deal with my issues rather than not wanting to feel what was going on for me. This has allowed me to feel more even and steady in myself and I certainly waste a lot less energy and time being caught up in drama.

631. Amazing Joan, life changing in the most beautiful way. From the stillness I can feel in your writing here, I can also feel other aspects of my life that are done with a subtle level of excitement, which is just to make up for a deeper sense of what is not true. The three ringed circus. Within us, everything matters, thank you.

632. Joan, I love how you describe emotions:
     ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.’
     And, yes, I can absolutely relate to what you are sharing, we basically learn to be emotional and if we are not we are called heartless or not being able to express feelings. But then, there is no expressing of feelings as such, feelings just are, simply something we feel, and no expressing into emotion is needed.

     1. So true, Esther, and that “learning to be emotional” becomes our identity as Sarah, (three comments earlier) says. I realised my emotions were harming to me and everyone else when I was in my thirties, and I tried to suppress them, and so began to control myself rigidly and become hard. Of course in suppressing the emotions that way I was coming no nearer to the feeling. It wasn’t until I met Serge Benhayon that I came to understand and feel the true difference between emotions and feeling, and that we can never get rid of emotions, they arise as part of our human nature, but they are just energy in motion, as they arise so they can be allowed to pass on and out without becoming involved in them. That way we really know who we are, as we can observe and feel they are not our identity.

633. Thank you for sharing your story so honestly. I would not have thought of myself as a drama-queen, but I use rage and frustration to block out my feelings, which is the same as what you describe. I am also learning to not go into my ‘default mode’ but rather allow the feelings to surface and be felt. This definitely reduces the exhaustion I experienced from the emotions. I too am very appreciative of the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for the understanding I now have.

634. Here here sister. I so hear you on this one. It is so liberating to be free of that emotional drama roller coaster which so many of us (me included) have lived on or are still living on. It is such a crutch for so many …. I know for me I was scared to let it go because without it – who was I????? Thanks to Universal Medicine, I have re-connected to who I truly am and have no need to be such a drama queen anymore (well she still pops in for a visit but her stays are far shorter – more like a short film than a long drawn out opera ;-)).

635. Thank you Joan for this great blog. I love how you expose the origins of psychology and how it is all based on a certain belief system that just came from the dominant consciousness at that time. It is time to take responsibility for our own healing!!!

636. You really make it clear how emotions work and what they do to us. I can feel it now when I listen to music. I used to love listening to sad, emotional songs. I was under the belief that this was helping me to feel. But now I can see how it takes me away from myself and is an indulgence. The example with music has helped me to take a bigger look at emotions in my life. I love this blog Joan.

     1. I too remember those days and they are long gone. I even recall the recognition gained from others as being one who was really ‘in touch with her feelings’. I did not understand at the time that I was completely devoid connection with my feelings as they were buried under so many emotions. Very freeing.

     2. So true Nikki, I would watch sad emotional films to take me away from myself and at the time I felt I was very much in touch with my feelings but the reality was I was hooked on the emotional roller coaster I would get caught up in.

637. Bravo Joan! I give you a standing ovation for the truth shared and the revelation that cathartic drama is not it and it certainly isn’t harmless entertainment. We are all being affected by it’s meddlesome ways which are most certainly not the loving way to live and express ourselves in and with.

     “Emotions have become the way of expressing and are viewed as essential and often mistaken for true feeling” … Your words say it all Joan.

     1. Great comment Suzanne, Joan should be taking a well deserved curtesy for delivering this blog for us all.

        1. Ha Ha! Good one Sally!

638. What a beautiful and honest sharing Joan, and your words –
     “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves”, are so profound. And I love it when you tell yourself “don’t make a drama out of this”, I may use that one myself, so supportive thank-you for your wisdom, Elder Joan Calder.

639. Hi Joan, your blog prompts me to consider the sea of emotions that exists all around us every day and how thick and heavy and imposing this feels; emotions that people have externalized as the product of the constant catharsis that you talk about, as it is difficult to deny that the society we live in today is one that thrives on emotion, drama and stimulation. I used to think that to be emotional was to be human, but now realize that the truth is the polar opposite of this; my role in this human existence is to connect to the truth that lies within and to live the expression of my inner essence and inner knowing in my every day.

     When I am expressing from the truth of who I am there is simply no place for catharsis and emotions. It is only when I avoid or distract myself from what I’m feeling that I experience this by-product. It can be tricky however to live in this way, even when it feels absolutely delicious to do so, when the majority of the population is choosing not to connect with their feelings and their inner knowing and instead choosing emotion and catharsis. It can sometimes feel like I’m swimming against the tide, but since attending presentations by Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I am learning to ‘be like a fish in the sea but not get wet’, i.e. committing to and participating in life in full, but not letting the sea of emotions that I swim within, penetrate me.

640. Thank you for sharing Joan, your blog has offered me a deeper understanding of ’emotionally charged’ people and with my own unfolding journey through the presentations of Universal Medicine I have learned to observe these behaviours in others without being caught up /drawn into them.

641. I used to LOVE emotions, especially when I was younger. A day without crying was a day not lived..I always thought that having emotions made me a very sensitive person and that I was in touch with my feelings. I know better now and that emotions and feelings are two completely different things. Being emotional I can see now, is living a life in reaction to. It is a reaction to something and shows me that I have not taken responsibility. Since Universal Medicine my life has changed so much and the harmony, consistency and steadiness I feel today, is such a huge change from the emotional woman that I used to be. No more drama for me, I go for joy!

642. Emotions and drama were a part of my life too Joan and just like you I feel very thankful that I was around to connect with the deeply inspirational work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine. The choice to connect to my inner heart is one of joy and stillness, nothing is more than that.

643. This is so beautifully expressed and a very inspiring read too. Thank you Joan!
     I can attest to the deep and profound changes you have made since being a student of Universal Medicine, it is an absolute joy to feel and hear you claiming yourself so fully and exposing all the past drama that you were so deeply embedded in. Go Girl! This is so healing for you and everyone who comes into contact with you.

644. Hello Joan, one of the things I can relate to is the “roller coaster of lows and highs” and can see most of the world finds this ‘normal’. One of the most obvious and significant changes to my life since meeting Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine would be the fact that my life is now more steady and consistent emotionally. My family have noticed this consistency and often comment of how much this has changed. No more need for highs to offset the extreme lows and I agree this alone was exhausting. It is not that you become ’emotionless’, it just the way things are approached is from a different angle. Universal Medicine has supported me to be more aware of what I am feeling rather than react to something emotionally at the first point. This has allowed me to go deeper beyond the initial emotion and see what is triggering them and in this you are actually more aware of what you are feeling. Instead of seeing things just as ‘anger’ you look deeper and under the anger there was a ‘sadness’ for me. Once I was aware of the sadness, things made sense because to me the anger never made sense. Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon supported me to makes sense of many things in my life and this helped me to step off the emotional roller coaster once and for all.

645. This is an amazing article Joan, and one I can completely relate to. Very timely for me to read this today, thank you for sharing.

646. What a great blog,Joan. I have always felt that what Serge Benhayon has presented about “observing and not absorbing’ has helped me to become more aware of the emotions when they arise. I have also noticed that emotions are often the basis of our conversations with others – whether it be talking about a great movie, a fabulous meal, about a relationship. This feels to also be an avoidance as we are not having a conversation based on truth. As you so beautifully expressed – ” ……it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves”

647. I love this bit

     By continually observing the quality of my body, letting the feelings surface and then choosing not to indulge in any emotions that arise in reaction to them, there is no need for a catharsis which takes me away from myself, suppresses the feelings again and locks the emotions in my body.

648. Joan I love your blog, it is so great to read all this about emotions. Yes, me too, a drama person. What it made me ponder on this first read is the issue of the addiction to them…..Just a few years ago when I started recognising them for what they are/were, I had to acknowledge and uncomfortably encounter the issues of disconnection, boredom and worthlessness behind this addiction. Without emotions I couldn´t get attention as easily, I was left just with the quality of withdrawal I had chose to live with, plus the anonymity and flatness. Emotions are Sooo tempting as ways to seemingly connect to others, get recognised, go through intense moments and become someone in our pursuit for individualization and validation. We think emotions make us feel alive, passionate and connected to life, however it is exactly the very opposite… they are, as Sara H said, so disconnecting, they are exhausting, ephmeral, poisonous to our intimate relationships, they keep us distracted so we don´t really have to make the shift back to fullness and Love within…. which btw is a process and don´t give us immediate viceral reward. However it is so worth it, as the bottomless pit of need will finally be sorted, at the end there wasn´t enough emotions and things outside to fill it up, we were just looking in the wrong place. Thanks a lot, very powerful revelations brought through you and your unfoldment. Perfect for me to read and feel…

649. It is so shocking how much we let ourselves get distracted from what is really going on by creating and indulging in drama. Once you realize you are putting on the show yourself, it might be confronting, but the power we have to to bring changes to our life and those of everybody we meet is so beautiful to feel. All it takes is to choose to take responsibility for what we do. For me Universal Medicine and the presentations by Serge Benhayon have been an amazing inspiration to walk this way.

650. Thank you Joan for your deep level of honesty and for sharing your story with us.

651. I absolutely relate to the rollercoaster of drama that I felt I was on – it took a little while to accept that I was responsible for creating the ride and I can choose to hope off at any time.

652. Top blog Joan, it was interesting to read you describe enjoying the buzz that drama gave you and how drama fed your need for approval. It is amazing how harmful it is for us when we rely on an outside source to approve us, as it leaves us in a very unsteady place. It feels much healthier to accept ourselves as we are, removing that need to be identified, as your blog has shown so beautifully.

653. Thank you Joan for calling out this catharsis energy that we as a society have been so indulgent in. We must not forget that drama is actually like a drug in that is it is easy to become addicted with a tendency to want more, and just like drugs drama in our life does cause harm to the body.

     1. Yes this is true Samantha, emotions and drama are very harmful drugs that we are educated to indulge in and like Joan says to escape from our true feelings. Hence the need for so much entertainment and stimulation in modern life. I always wondered why movie stars and actors were paid so much, but now understand that catharsis through entertainment is a national pastime and keeps everyone medicated from dealing with what is really going on and giving them an opportunity to heal. So it feels like actors are important in keeping the whole world going along the way it is, maintaining the status quo, in other words.

        1. I completely love what you have said Josephine, so I am re-quoting it: ‘I always wondered why movie stars and actors were paid so much, but now understand that catharsis through entertainment is a national pastime and keeps everyone medicated from dealing with what is really going on and giving them an opportunity to heal. So actors are important in keeping the whole world going along the way it is, maintaining the status quo, in other words.’ YES Josephine! The enormity of what is being orchestrated here is clear to see!
           The movie industry is ‘crowd control’ at a really sophisticated level. The same old ‘bread and circuses’ but in Hollywood costuming ! I watched some of the BAFTA awards earlier this year (British Oscars) and could feel the tawdriness and sadness of the gathering underneath the outward glamour and dazzle. I thought I could enjoy the dresses but the quality of that industry was so clear to feel. I actually turned it off!

        2. Yes, I used to love the Oscars but nowadays the emptiness of it all speaks volumes underneath the dazzle dazzle and oh so smooth glamour. Definitely crowd control – we need to be entertained and most of it keeps us stupid, thinking and feeling inside a very small box of tried and tested formulas that keep us ticking over on the same old circuits. Think what would happen if all the television sets went down in one fell swoop and there was nothing left to watch! Of course computers would have to go too. There would be a national (and international) crisis.

654. “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” Absolute Gold, Joan.

655. This is a great sharing Joan Calder and what a story about the drama and how we re-live and act it out. I was in therapy for 4 years and that felt like a lifetime. Nothing changed other than my real issues got buried deeper and secretly I loved all he drama I was creating in my life. What a total and utter waste.
     Is it any surprise or just a co-incidence that since giving up on trying to get attention by creating dramas, I have not got sick. Instead, thanks to the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, I live a very self-connecting life and use my body as a compass to direct me in life. Drama for me now feels like another life and one which I can say I have moved on from.
     I also got that I don’t feel any desire to go to the theatre anymore and in the past I was addicted to the emotional stimulation from any drama production.

656. A great blog Joan. Knowing the difference between feelings and emotions is pure gold. I know that if I have reacted to a feeling and allowed my emotions to take over I find that I get drained very quickly. I can still feel the pull to get involved in the drama of life, but it is simply not worth it. As you say – indulging in emotions can lead to illness.

657. Thank you Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for helping me understand more about the difference between emotions and feelings. I have chosen to not feel my feelings most of my life. When I found out how much this was limiting my life I said ” I want to feel everything”. And I have, lots of tears and I found Universal Medicine to help me navigate this new experience. To understand that an emotion is a distorted feeling, and that feelings are the truth was liberating. If I react to something then I need to look more closely at the situation because there is something there for me.

658. Joan this is a great expose on what so many therapies base there foundation on. This will never be truly healing and as more and more people hold their hands up and say ‘its not working’ people will start to want to know what does work and as you have shared, that is to be consistent in the quality you live day to day. Awesome.

659. Thankyou Joan I am so grateful to you for your honesty in sharing your experience with drama and emotion in our everyday and how addictive it is, reading your blog has been very exposing for me. I can relate to the addictive programs on tv that I used to watch after a long day at work to ‘unwind’. But now I understand what was really going on and even though I don’t watch tv anymore I can see where it has substituted in other ways…

660. Great Blog Joan. I can feel how this game without rules is really draining. And I can see how I have used it for all sorts of reasons and different occasions. It is also very manipulating. It is the perfect cover up to not feel what is really going on. And thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I now have an understanding of emotions and why we create them. So now I know that if it comes up, I can observe and choose not to go there. And yes, it is still work in progress, but it is good to know how easily we can snap out of it.

661. Thanks Joan, it is such a wonderful freedom from the prison of drama and emotions, that you don’t even realise that you’re in, until you decide you don’t want to be run and controlled by this anymore. Thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and the simple techniques they present, I now am developing that freedom to have a choice whether to let it affect me, or not. It has been revolutionary!

662. Dear Joan. Your blog is so incredibly insightful. I love your clear distinction between emotions and feelings and how we can use emotions to cover up our true feelings and distract us from dealing with the core issues and hurts that are keeping us embroiled in the game of recognition and acceptance. Thank you again, I thoroughly enjoyed your blog.

663. Amazing how drama is an addiction that we all have, but think is normal. What you are presenting is truly awesome and people will learn a lot from what you have said. I really enjoyed reading about your experience.

664. The way you describe it Joan, it seems we have all been drama students in this life. How cool that we are now choosing to be students of love.

665. Thank you Joan awesome read and clarity. I too lived a merry go round of emotions which was very draining to say the least. Now with the support of Universal Medicine the way I live my life is much more loving.

666. I love how you so simply and beautifully expressed “I would have an emotional reaction to any feelings that surfaced in order to protect myself further from the pain and then I would identify with and indulge in that emotion, thinking it was the feeling, but it wasn’t. An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.” This is GOLD.

     1. Me too Mary-Louise,

        What a ‘convenient’ distraction emotion can be…. taking us away from our true connection and feelings.
        It’s no different to indulging in a drug or substance that gives you stimulation and a false high – but then leaves you drained and depleted, and poisoned by the experience… thus seeking more emotion as a pick-me-up.
        Your transformation out of this cycle is a miracle Joan.

667. I can really relate to learning to listen in to my inner essence too Joan. It tells me so much, I have ignored it so many times, for so long. Now I am changing that and really listening, and following myself and my feelings.

668. I can certainly relate to making a mountain out of a molehill so to speak. What a waste of energy emotional dramas are.

     1. I agree, emotional dramas are certainly are a waste of energy Elizabeth, and so addictive if we let them get a hold on us. I love it when Joan says that she loved going to the theatre and the opera to watch and experience others acting out all the human emotions; that pretty much seems to be the case with many people in the world, spending their valuable time acting out their own dramas. It can be so easy to get hooked into others’ dramas too, I’ve done that myself, until I made the choice to connect to the stillness within and began to realise that my emotional dramas were just keeping me away from myself.

669. I can really relate to what you write here Joan, making tiny situations into huge, earth shattering dramatic moments when actually all that drama and chaos is only happening in my head. All being fed from some belief that I am not enough as I am without having to do anything. An example of such craziness: I feel to go to the loo during a presentation/workshop/meeting etc. I notice the feeling but if I don’t instantly act on it, in comes the drama of – you can’t because you’ll disturb, you’ll miss something vital etc which then leads to more psychical symptoms but because I have ignored the first feeling and the drama is already present it continues to build.
     There was one part in this blog that I felt stopped me in my tracks: “I know where my heart lies”.
     Through the work of Universal Medicine I have also found where the answer to these at times perceived disastrous moments lie, within my body. In the times where I do stop, catching my mind is going off on a wobbly about something, and actually ask ‘How does my body actually feel about this subject?’ there is a certainly in it’s answer that I can’t argue with. It is this certainty I am learning to trust currently.

670. I can so relate Joan, my whole life was a big drama until I met Serge Benhayon. Through the teachings of Universal Medicine I learned to connect with myself and my body in a different way, which gave me access to this innate stillness, beauty and amazingness. I would not want to miss this connection anymore today and therefore drama and emotions do not have much attraction for me anymore.

671. Yes, I can relate to the noise and drama, thinking that it was normal and exciting to be emotional and reactive. In truth it is in stillness and calm that great connection and awareness surface.

672. Wow Joan, this is so true of how life was for me too. Your expression of ‘I know where my heart lies’ jumped off the page to me.

673. Joan your amazing blog was an absolute revelation for me “An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves” that sentence just blew me away – I have never seen this expessed so clearly before, however, I can feel it is absolute truth. I always knew that anger hid sadness etc, however this amazing sentence allowed me to feel that even excitement, exhilaration and happiness are attempts to squash what we feel on some level. Amazing.

     1. Thank you Joan for your very insightful blog and thank you Leonne for expanding on the sentence above. I agree with you when I read this, it really stood out to me too in its clarity, simplicity and truth. I felt a real expansion of my understanding and how this could be applied to the subtler levels of emotion that are more acceptable like, as you say, excitement or worry.

674. It’s great to see the mistaking of emotions for feelings getting exposed … and the ensuing affects of that on ones body and life. This is a subject worthy of discussion everywhere. I know that it has been life changing for me to understand the difference and to distance myself from the drama dynamics!

675. An amazing blog Joan, telling of your past way of living and your journey of healing and the place you now find yourself at.
     I did not use the ‘drama queen’ as my way of seeking acknowledgement……I always tried to be the ‘good girl’, and always do the ‘right thing’ so I could get acknowledgement. But even if it came, it felt hollow as I always felt unworthy and could not let it in, leaving me feeling I needed to hide because I was not ‘alright’.
     It is amazing the many ways we choose to escape from the deep emptiness we feel simply because we have lost touch with what is held deeply within us all.
     I too am on the journey back to re-discovering who I really am through the teachings of Serge Benhayon, and the practitioners of the Universal Medicine healing modalities and thank them for their support and understanding.

676. “I continually worry about getting things right, which was a horrible way to spend my life”
     I can absolutely relate to you here, when you share this Joan. I feel it is an incredibly crippling thing to constantly be worried and trying to do things right.

     1. Same here Natasha for so many years I lived my life in the “right or wrong” game – completely crippling and something that is still a work in progress. I can feel a great freedom the more I let go of the need to get something right.

     2. Yes, I can relate to this old strong pattern, it is indeed crippling. This is still a work in progress of letting all of this pattern go.

677. Thanks Joan, great blog. I used to be extremely emotional and lived from one emotional drama to another and sought attention by re-telling my story to my numerous friends, thereby re-living the emotions over and over each time I told the story. No wonder I was so exhausted! This all changed when I began attending Universal Medicine presentations and I came to know the difference between an emotion and a true feeling – wow, if only I’d known this years earlier.

678. Great subject to open up Joan. Equally, it serves to be reminded that pretending we “don’t feel emotions” or that being calm and un-emotional like the cold calculating intellectual is not the answer either. It is natural to have emotions come up, and it is important to feel them, to acknowledge that they are there. Too many of us, especially men, walk around in an emotionally repressed state where we THINK we have our emotions under control, but in truth we are run by them as a result of our refusal to acknowledge that they are even there in the first place. But, as you have expressed, equally indulging in them as though they actually define who we are is also very,very damaging.

     1. I think what you’ve said here Adam is really important, to not go in extreme the other way from drama to not acknowledging that we have emotions. Universal Medicine have shown me that there is a harmonious way to be in connection with ourselves, not indulging and not repressing either.

     2. Good point you make here Adam about cutting off from our emotions. I lived for years in a spiritual teaching that taught so-called transcendence of emotions but in truth it meant that I actually was suppressing a lot of things and not in touch with, ignoring or suppressing what was really going on inside me thinking all the time that I was relatively “free”. I feel that this is equally as damaging as acting out and identifying with our emotions, because you never really get to know yourself at a deeper level and are just managing life.

        1. I agree Josephine, I recall attending a yoga ashram where all of the staff were totally devoid of emotions, it felt like you were communicating with people who were simply not there, emotionless and spaced out.

679. We are such tricky little spirits! Being addicted to drama so as not to feel your essence is a very sneaky means of avoiding feeling your hurts and acknowledging the truth. It’s incredible how tricky we all actually are and how many different behaviours and patterns we each devise to do this. Personally I chose failure, but thanks to Serge Benhayon presenting the Ageless Wisdom through Universal Medicine, I too have unravelled some of these mechanisms and can much more easily connect with myself, nominate my tricks, choose another way and keep life simple and more enjoyable.

680. Thank you Joan I love your blog, reading about your discovery is very inspiring. It reminds me to not play into emotional dramas which is very harming. I am still not able to catch it every time I get sucked into dramas but I am slowly learning how to arrest it when it does occur.

681. Thanks for sharing your journey Joan. I also used to be a bit of a drama queen so I can relate to lots in this blog. I have come to learn that all that drama is very draining and does not solve anything. In fact it creates more problems. Living life where you feel more in control is great and I love where you share that you participated in your own healing and connected to your deep innermost self.

682. Me too Joan, I was searching and searching till I found Serge Benhayon 😉 and thereby Me ! Thank you for sharing Joan, and especially on the different approach and way of thinking about emotions, feelings and healing by Aristotle And Socrates! Was very clarifying!

683. Dear Joan, there is so much in what you have written, I too indulged in my emotions, which was an absolute Roller Coaster. One I have now stepped off. Like you it has been through the support of Universal Medicine Practitioners and with the Ageless Wisdom teaching that Serge Benhayon presents that I too now live my life with so much joy. I loved the honesty of your writting thank you, I know that I will revisit it again as today feels like it is just skimming the surface of what it has to offer.

684. Hi Joan, the blog gave me an aha moment since I had never considered that the intention of theatre might be to ‘ keep people addicted to the drama, reaction, and sensationalism.’ It seems fairly obvious in keeping people addicted they are sure of a future audience. Great to feel your unfolding.

     1. Yes, Judy, and Paul and Gabriele, and there was more information I heard on that radio programme. Evidently Hollywood still refers to the treatise by Aristotle on the function and effectiveness of drama and uses it as the basis for all its plots! So we certainly are being manipulated by those who want to keep the illusion going. One other contribution was by a Cognital Behavioural Therapist who said that CBTs roots came from Socrates. I remember in my therapy days my in-depth psychotherapist said CBT would not uncover the deeper issues, and there was a great divide between CBT and other forms of psychotherapy. So interesting, as CBT seems to address emotion and reaction in the present, and as far as I understand, does not encourage catharsis, in fact the opposite.

     2. I agree Judy, I loved how Joan’s spelled it out how theatre works on a grander scale than just people seeking recognition for their work. On this grander scale it’s great to be aware of what’s at play and what a responsibility it is when one is delivering something for many people. And on my responsibility with regards to what I am supporting in what I choose to spend my money on or watch on TV.

     3. This is a great point to highlight Judy, ‘ I had never considered that the intention of theatre might be to ‘ keep people addicted to the drama, reaction, and sensationalism’. I had not considered this either. I guess this is the same with theatre and films, that the more dramatic they are and emotional the more people get hooked.

685. Joan its amazing to read & feel the transformation in your being. I used to use frustration as my distraction & create fuss about it & make them issues, thought that was normal as others around me were living that way too. Living like that I would be lost in fixing something/someone & feeling like I am achieving something but going around in the same pattern day in day out. It was like I almost wanted it to be like that! This way of living left me resentful & exhausted. I can relate on many levels to what you’ve shared here. Now I too am living a different, more loving life, thanks to Universal Medicine practitioners showing a different loving way of being. It was through simple choices that I choose to make everyday, slowly through inspiration & support from Universal Medicine a & presentations from Serge Benhayon, that I’ve come to a point to stop, feel & check in on why I would be feeling the way I did & from there nominate it rather than react to it. Its an ever deepening journey.

     1. A great point pinkylight, a lot of people and myself included, are or have been living our emotions thinking that it is ‘normal’, knowing that others were living that way too. I had certainly not reflected about it until I was shown that there is another way.

        1. That goes for me too Eva. I too used to live a life based on drama and complication and when I look back, I realize I often found ways to introduce drama when things were actually going well, as though unconsciously I wasn’t satisfied unless there ‘was’ some form of drama. At the time, I just thought this was a normal way of living and it wasn’t until meeting Serge Benhayon and being introduced to Universal Medicine that I discovered there was actually another way to live. I still sometimes get caught up in drama and emotions but can more readily identify this and have been able to observe that when I get caught up like this, it’s usually because there’s something I don’t want to feel and be honest about. When I do choose to be honest about this, I find I no longer need to hide behind the drama and emotions that distracted me from my true feelings in the first place!

        2. Yes Eva, once it is revealed, it is difficult to believe that what one understood to be normal was in fact not only not normal, but not our natural way. I also had not reflected that living with emotions was not in fact our ‘normal’ way to be until meeting Serge Benhayon and attending Universal Medicine presentations.

        3. Spot on…Eva and Angela…allow ourselves to feel what is there to feel and face up to whatever it is, instead of all the drama, emotions or distractions. It could be so simple if we choose…but why do we make it so complicated instead?

686. Thankyou for this blog Joan – living on drama and high emotions is a very intoxicating way for many and it is important for the truth of what that does to our bodies and the exhaustion it brings to be written about.

687. An amazing blog Joan, thank you. I never knew that about Aristotle but it makes so much sense, especially when we look at our theatre and TV dramas as they are often replicas of real life. Great to read how much you have changed your life around. To have Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine available with the Ageless Wisdom Teachings is such a blessing.

688. Thanks Joan trusting your inner essence is the way forward and far less exhausting.

689. Joan I am impressed with the way you have expressed yourself and explained simply how emotions do nothing to heal, and only bury the issues deeper. You also say attachment to and indulgence in, our emotions causes our illness. I have seen some of this first hand in my life when I was a face to face counsellor and in my own life occasionally. It all comes back to self love and taking responsibility for our decisions in life. Thanks also to Serge Benhayon, his teachings and the Universal Medicine Practitioners who follow these and support us so lovingly.

690. Thank you Joan, I can definitely relate to so much you have shared.

691. An honest and inspirational journey from expressing emotions to truly finding what lies beneath, you. The emotional journey has been an exhausting one for me and like you, Joan, attending Serge Benhayon’s presentations and with the help (a lot) from Esoteric Practitioners, I got to feel how poisonous the emotions were that were buried in my body, and that there truly is another way of being, minus the dramas.

692. I find it interesting how modern psychology/psychotherapy has its roots back to Aristotle, through to Freud, and Universal Medicine carries the same impress as Jesus and Socrates. It is like a fork in the road happened in ancient times and humanity largely choose the ‘wrong’ path. Now this path is being backtracked and the right path re-found. Goodbye drama, hello truth.

     1. Well expressed Paul – I love how you bring this to one small but profound sentence – “Goodbye drama, hello truth.”

693. I did not know that Aristotle already advocated emotionality and drama and mistakenly thought of them to be curative in some way.

694. Thank you Joan for the clarity with which you expose the damage of living from emotion: ‘An emotion arises in us when we feel unable to face or are unwilling to feel the deep underlying feeling; it is an escape that takes us away from our true connection with ourselves.’ I too was addicted to emotions as a way of escaping the emptiness of my life and feeling that there ‘had to be more to life than this’. Since attending Universal Medicine presentations my life has been transformed and as I have become more present with me I no longer need to escape into emotion.

695. Beautiful Joan, amazing to read of your journey from an emotional roller coaster to ‘living my life everyday in consistency’. This is really clear and simply written and I find it supportive to read, ‘By continually observing the quality of my body, letting the feelings surface and then choosing not to indulge in any emotions that arise in reaction to them’.

696. I love what you have written here Joan. I too used to be emotional and it was very exhausting and unpleasant for my body. Over the last years through the teachings of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I too have developed a steady and consistent non emotional way of being that feels simply yummy and I have heaps more energy than ever before. A great tool for reconnecting to the essence you mention is the Gentle Breath Meditation which was founded and developed by Serge. More info and lots of free audio meditations can be found here: Unimed Living Gentle Breath Meditation

697. I love what you expose in society “I can also see that much of our culture lives and depends on this catharsis which is the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions by continuously reliving the experience emotionally through the body and even acting it out physically.” I can see how I have been part of this and how choosing to alter it can have a huge impact on how our bodies feel. Also fantastic how you relate to ‘catharsis’ and modern psychotherapy, very astute and interesting observation about how we often attempt to resolve our inner hurts and how this ultimately fails many who attempt it.

698. What an interesting point you make here Joan about emotions. So often we think that when we are emotional and pouring this out that it is a good thing. And we could be fooled into thinking this because compared to not expressing anything it could look preferable. What if as you say, this emotional drama was still a cover up for the deeper feeling underneath and a way of avoiding it? That would really change how we think about entertainment and therapy?

699. Thank you for sharing your blog Joan, your account of drama and theatre is most insightful as is the type of person involved. As Susan has mentioned the drama of everyday life and how we create it is an addiction to motion not allowing stillness and connection in our body is a lot to be dramatic about.

700. Wow, Joan. Such a powerful debunking of the illusion we’re under about the so-called ‘benefits’ of catharsis. This knocks the basic tenets of Psychology on the head. I hadn’t realised the difference between emotions and feelings. Very powerful indeed. I’ve now clocked the fact that I am choosing with every tv and film drama I watch to be taken through an artificial cathartic process whether I like it or not. Time to review my choices!

     1. Yes it is all about choices, thanks for the reminder Cathy.

701. Thank you Joan – I found the game of drama and emotion I allowed into my life felt like it kept me as far away as possible from really knowing myself.
     All the anxiety, inconsistency and self indulgence gave me no room to get to know myself.
     Like you – since knowing about Universal Medicine and understanding drama to be an indulgence, I made the choice to not get as caught up in it all – which has made a huge difference to how I live. For once I know who I am without the fillers.

702. Thank you Joan, I really enjoyed reading your blog and I might add that there is a lot of what you have written I can relate to. I have noticed how easy it is get overly worried about something and make a mountain out of a mole hill and then find out that it was nothing after all. Getting hooked into drama is a good one to watch out for, many thanks for sharing.

703. Great blog Joan, what I loved the most was what you shared about us all taking responsibility for ourselves and trusting in our own inner essence. I can see no greater foundation than one built on the very solid knowing of who one is and the pure enjoyment that one feels as life is lived, outwardly and expansively (with a normality) from that point.

704. For me theatre and music were ways to ‘feel’ myself. I thought that the emotions I had made life worth while and made me rise above a mediocre existence. I was very much into drama, because I did not know at that time how to express how I truly felt. I could not connect with stillness.
     Drama is also a way to manipulate others in what you want, or at least make them feel miserable if they don’t.
     Suffering is often so much more familiar than glory and joy!

705. Joan this was also my experience growing up and into my adult life. My mother used to say I could win an academy award for my performances and I was often called a drama queen. Swings in emotions stimulated me and gave me something to perform to. I could be ‘that’ person, the one who was dramatic (with a flare for the dramatic I used to think!) so that I didn’t have to feel that I was nowhere near living me, in fact I had no idea who me was. I used to think living any other way would be boring. I have come to discover this couldn’t be further form the truth. Consistency in rhythm and the ability to observe what is going around me rather than reacting has me living more true to who I am than ever before. Like you Joan, Serge Benhayon and the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom have supported me to see that there is another way.

706. Thank you Joan for sharing this. I can relate to how I used to react with emotion to everything and go over and over it in my head and it was exhausting. I was forever making mountains out of insignificant molehills and worrying about issues over which I had no control. I too have found that listening to presentations by Serge Benhayon and attending Universal Medicine events I do not seek emotions to stimulate me and create drama in my life but I am learning to feel for myself the truth in and underlying events in my life and in news reports from around the world.

     1. Yes Mary, I too am grateful for finding, from Serge Benhayon, that life does not have to be about reacting with emotions to, ‘everything and go over and over it in my head and it was exhausting. I was forever making mountains out of insignificant molehills and worrying about issues over which I had no control’, and that we actually have a choice. Like you I am learning to stay feeling the truth in everything.

707. Thank you Joan for sharing this is so important for all of us to understand how much harm we choose doing to our selves and to others if we indulge in emotions and what impact this has on our body:
     “Through my study with Universal Medicine I began to understand how attachment to and indulgence in emotions causes our illnesses.”

708. You give us much to contemplate here Joan. What you say about society being addicted to the drama of entertainment, and to stimulation makes so much sense. It seems part of a finely balanced package (one that I can certainly relate to from personal experience), stimulation through entertainment, sport, personal dramas and food, and a corresponding numbing or relief from the stimulation through more or different food, and maybe exercise or alcohol and the like, and escape and relief through things like sleep and holidays. Together it adds up to exhaustion.

709. You debunk the myth and cultural and psychological tradition of drama and by clearly discriminating feelings and emotions a space to breathe and be oneself again is offered. That is the basic everyday recipe for a balanced life with self and others.

710. Very well said Thank you Joan for exposing the false life

711. I always thought emotions are life and no emotions is being cold. Since I learned to know Universal Medicine I got an understanding how destructive emotions are and how they can create illness. Through this understanding I am much less emotional, like you Joan, and my health has increased enormously.

712. I spent much of my earlier years in the turmoil of my emotions and anxiety which kept me so involved in the drama that I missed out on actually being in life and connected to the world and those around me. This emotional state is like living in a glass walled prison – you can see the works around you but you just can’t connect with it.

713. Joan you describe with great elegance the situation that so many of us find ourselves in – a form of addiction to emotions and from there the belief that we need to constantly re-live the pain in effect an ongoing roller coaster. It’s also really interesting to understand where the current way of thinking came from (Aristotle and Freud). I was certainly a drama addict. Now seeing how this “drama” just becomes a surface layer to avoid healing puts things in a very different perspective. What Universal Medicine has offered is the loving support for true healing.

714. Thanks Joan , the interesting part of this great article for me was exposing the addiction humanity has to emotions and drama .
     It is also awesome that you have made such profound changes to the way you live and feel on a daily basis.

715. The world trend has become directed at getting everyone to emote and I agree it is draining – as you said: ‘I know that just being me by trusting my inner essence and living my life every day in consistency brings a lasting healing.’ – sounds as if it is headed more towards harmony – I’m sure the plant and animal kingdoms would breathe a sigh of relief if we all calmed down and came back to ourselves. Thankyou for the reminder.

     1. Yes Debra, the plant and animal kingdoms would breathe a sigh of relief if they were emotive humans! But yes, get your great point. Our emotions have a very imposing affect on the world of nature and its beautiful delicate balance.

716. A wonder-full transformation. I had my drama addiction in worry, anxiety and depression, and I also feel so blessed that I am around here and now to have met Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.

717. There was much to ponder on in your blog Joan, relating your experiences of unfolding to where you are now as a result of differenct choices. One line stands out for me at this moment “By continuing to observe the quality of my body, letting the feelings surface, and then choosing not to indulge in any emotions that arise in reaction to them” – and the specific word that jumps out at me is “reaction”. This is something that I have learned by experience this past week, for there to be a ‘reaction’ there must have been a tool of sorts if you will, an emotion, a judgment etc. that allowed the energy of ‘reaction’ to appear – and as I found that choice to react has the potential to unexpectedly present an entirely different ball-park to now have to deal with. Amazing I feel, since meeting Serge Benhayon and attending the Universal Medicine presentations how many opportunities may appear in our awareness to simplify our once very complicated way of living.

718. Thanks for your insights on attachment to emotions in life Joan. Living in emotions is giving us the feeling that life is about excitement and experiencing it with all the emotional feelings that are there to be felt. This way of living is providing us a life of ups and downs and we champion this as living life in full.

     Living in connection with our inner essence as you describe, may be considered a dull and boring life when compared to the emotional life, but it in truth this is not the case. The inner joy, harmony and stillness that is there to feel and experience, is of a much greater value to me than the emotional drama that is championed in nowadays life so much.

719. Thank you for sharing…..I like what you said- “No longer on a rollercoaster existence” The highs and lows of life that we can so easily indulge in and identify ourselves by which actually uses so much more energy…. then can end up as a illness or disease in our body. I knew that rollercoaster ride well in the past. I’m so glad I’m not on it anymore.

720. My experiences with Drama – or let us say: Emotional Exercises, are also impressive.
     And on my way of searching for answers and healing I thought for a while that I did take the emotionality to fill up my emptiness inside. And in a certain way it was like that. As I -with the support of Universal Medicine- did more and more let go off my Emotional Exercises I felt an emptiness in my life (inside and outside) which Emotionality did cover in the past. I started to bring more awareness and attention to my body, did start to really care for me and deepen my connection to my body and me.
     What I found is that all what I was searching for my whole life is there, right in me, waiting to connect to. Always. My beauty, my stillness, harmony, joy, love, truth, connection to others – all there. Nothing I have to learn or to develop to get it. My fullness is in me, waiting for me all the time – in fact it is quite exhausting to keep me away from it. And why? Well, one thing what is also waiting for me inside is my responsibility. Responsibility for everything in my life and what is going on in the world…

     And I had to realize that I did use and create Drama and Emotionality to keep me away from my responsibility. Away from me and my connection to you all – who would reflect to me the truth.

     Emotionality is design to keep us separated.
     Design to keep us away from ourselves and from others.
     A creation what keeps us away from unity.

     1. A big ‘YES’ to everything you have said Sandra. What especially struck me are your words:
        ‘And I had to realize that I did use and create Drama and Emotionality to keep me away from my responsibility. Away from me and my connection to you all – who would reflect to me the truth.’ It is that word ‘responsibility’ that for me is acting like a sword to cut us free from the entanglement of the emotions. And it also explains why characters in popular TV shows which both expose and indulge in the ‘drama queen’ dynamic seem so juvenile, even when in their late thirties and early forties. I, by the way, do not exempt myself from having inhabited this category of behaviour and from being juvenile! Nor am I completely out of the woods with it.

        1. I found that responsibility it something that is always there – we are responsible, if we take it or not. But IF we take it – it is lovely and strongly empowering for us. I wonder if we do not take our responsibility, we are missing our power and so we try to replace it with the force from (emotional) manipulation?

     2. I like that Sandra, ‘Emotional Exercises’……something we do everyday, thinking it is doing us some good.

        1. Yes Alison, and we have to train/exercise it to keep the emotions/drama alive…if we just stop to exercise it, the emotional-muscle would waste away. That would make space for true feelings.

721. This blog helped me to look at my own life and feel into the little dramas I have created as well as the big dramas I have been a party to. I have never been a drama queen (king) in the usual sense of it, overtly. Yet even going into rush or a quandary over a little thing I cannot change would qualify as creating a drama if I think about it. Also, I have had a way of adding to other people’s dramas, by making fun of them or light of the situation just at a time they were not receptive to it. Not of service at all! So I have appreciated relating to this blog and what drama is essentially about -which for me is about avoidance of being the true me, in joy and grace. So many of the blogs on this website lead me back to the question, why would I choose that? It seems just as relevant now to go deeper with this question as it has before, even though I am not choosing such avoidance as often.

722. Hello Joan, I too can relate to living a life of emotional ups and downs. Thank you for sharing such a beautifully expressed blog.

723. Thank you Joan – what an amazing and valuable blog, clearly showing that emotional drama is an addiction like any other. I can so relate to every word you write. Life was a big drama for me. If the washing machine broke down it was a drama, if I lost a document on the computer it was a drama, if someone behaved ‘badly’ it was a drama! The drama is such a trick to make us feel as if we are alive and living life when we are not – in drama we are actually sacrificing true heart-felt living for an re-interpreted version of life that drains you (as you pointed out).
     Like you, I have gradually educated myself to feel everything as it is presented, to the best of my ability – no matter how threatening that impending disaster may appear. I can now feel what needs to be felt and take the necessary steps to move through it, knowing that I can bring healing to each step. What a blessing to be in the school of The Way of the Livingness.

     1. I can relate to your comment Lyndy. When problems in everyday life occur, how it could be a drama as you describe instead of an opportunity to feel everything that was happening. It was an addiction as you say to , ‘make us feel as if we are alive and living life when we are not – in drama we are actually sacrificing true heart-felt living for an re-interpreted version of life that drains you’.

724. Awesome Joan, someone needed to speak up about emotions as an addictive way of living, and you’ve done so very accessibly. I never used to be a drama queen, and confess that I had rather a disdainful attitude to the ones I met. Until I moved to the east coast of Australia at the age of 42 and dramas began. It felt weird, because I don’t seek attention, could not work out where it was all coming from…. And it just kept coming and coming, until one day I went: “OMG now I’m a drama queen!” So that was the beginning of dismantling drama, and I could not have succeded without Serge Benhayon.

     1. This is very interesting Dianne because I too am aware of taking on this role at some later stage in my life. I feel that we have all definitely used emotions to not feel / accept the truth of things, all along the line, but I am wondering if the actual role of ‘drama queen’ in that specific form has been something popularised by certain TV shows – ways which I think were quite brilliant in many ways. When we view such shows we see an exposure of behaviours which brings them to light to see, but at the same time do we have a tendency to imitate and take on these kinds of behaviours that become ‘fashionable’ as it were. Then when something happens we act it out? Then more and more people being to do it to be part of the ‘game’. Our responsibility to stay steady is grand indeed!

725. I too was a drama queen. How great it has been to find Serge Benhayon and all at Universal Medicine. I am enjoying life so much more since I gave up emotional outbursts and dramatic behaviour and learnt how important it is to feel rather than to give into my emotions. My body is more relaxed, my mind much calmer and my life much more enjoyable.

726. Great blog Joan and how easily I can relate to what you have written. However my drama was something that was kept very private and when it came out I ended up being in shock, was that me doing such things. Yes, I have also come to a much clearer realization of the whole issue of drama in my life.

727. I remember a few years before discovering Universal Medicine, I was at a festival and participated in this group cathartic process. It went for a few hours with everyone dancing around crying, screaming, bodies flying everywhere…really quite intense to say the least. I remember stopping at one point and saying to myself, ‘what are you doing? this is crazy making!’. I was right. It was so unnecessary, so dramatic and enormously disconnecting. I remember feeling completely wiped out for the rest of the day and the days following. Thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, I now process things that come up through connection, in the most gentle and honouring way, that gives me and others the space to heal. It’s simple really and need not be any other way.

     1. Yes, I can relate to what you describe here, I used to think there was so much to be gained by such processes, and yet I too used to feel worse for it, never really clearing anything by such excesses. I now love using my willingness to connect to me to build a way forward when issues arise- no need for dramas, just simple nomination of whats going on for me is all thats needed.

728. I agree Joan, emotional reactions are very draining. I very clearly remember the day when I realised how exhausted I felt when I let emotions run a situation. So wonderful to hear how you have transformed your life with the support of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.

729. Joan this is a wonderful revelatory article. I have spent £1000s on therapy in the past – primal scream therapy no less and was always caught between suppressing my feelings or being highly emotional.

     I know if I’d had read what you’ve written back then I would have chosen to not understand it and still today I can resist paying attention to what is needed rather than feeding a mini drama.

     However, it would have been wonderful if therapists fully understood through how they lived the healing practice of, ‘By continually observing the quality of my body, letting the feelings surface and then choosing not to indulge in any emotions that arise in reaction to them, there is no need for a catharsis which takes me away from myself, suppresses the feelings again and locks the emotions in my body.’

     The Universal Medicine practitioners live in such honesty that they then understand what is at play when I choose drama over true feeling and awareness. They are able to skillfully support me in my awareness and understanding of what it is I am choosing and why. I am now able to live in a more honest way and not feed my dramas.

     1. Yes I can relate to what you are sharing here Karin, I used to think that emotional dramas were the way to get it all out and even better get the attention I so deeply needed. I now feel that this doesn’t need to be, I can so relate to how refreshing it is to be free of the constant cycle of seeking dramas and emotional highs and lows. I now love the steadiness I am building slowly in my life. This is amazing and well worth it. I deserve nothing less and the world gets the real me.

730. Thank you Joan for such a transforming account of how the drama of everyday life can become addictive and indulgent without ever changing the underlying causes of our illnesses.

     1. So true, the drama is just a way to avoid the real feelings underneath.

731. Joan, I was really taken by your blog including the sentence where you explain catharsis to be “the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions by continuously reliving the experience emotionally through the body and even acting it out physically.” What immediately came to mind was how I was once quite addicted to sad movies and music. I enjoyed the relief that crying in movies and to music gave me and I used this as a substitute to feeling the real sadness that was forever present in my own body and life … sadness that I had buried deeply. The support of Universal Medicine has been crucial to step out of this cycle and to feel the truth behind why we behave the way we do. Your blog is beautiful and insightful – thank you.

732. Joan I love what you have written here you have expressed what happens when we don’t live our lives in fullI and look outside for solutions, answers, and distractions. I can certainly relate to getting caught in the drama of certain issues and how easily a mole hill can become a mountain by re-living the the same issue over and over in my head until it is of gigantic proportions. This is changing as I no longer allow these situations to get a hold and live from my own feelings and not how I think I should be living.

     1. Joans mention in her article about radio interviews reminded me of one I heard this morning. It was a simple interview about poor customer service, but the interviewer placed (I thought) undue emphasis on the fact that the recipient of the poor service had experienced it on the anniversary of a bereavement. He was really going for the emotional drama. Another molehill to mountain moment.

     2. Thank you Alison for expressing this: “…live from my own feelings…” instead of colouring life through reactions to feelings, emotions and roller-coasters!

     3. Alison, by reading this I now understand what a distraction and indulgence going into our emotions is. Thank you.

733. Joan I love your honesty. I particularly love this ” I know that just being me by trusting my inner essence and living my life every day in consistency brings a lasting healing.” Yes it is definitely about trust and letting go of emotions and beliefs that are not needed. Thank you.

734. Thanks for your blog. I can so relate to being a drama queen at times. I think that at times I thought I would be seen as better or smart if things were complicated so I would make it so, instead of just keeping it simple.

     1. Yes Rosie, to make things complicated keeps us busy. That was my way of going into contact with my friends either listen to somebody “problems” or sharing my “problems” for hours.

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