Q: I am in emotional pain (sometimes quite deep pain). As long as I can remember I have felt a ball of anxiety at the pit of my stomach to one degree or another (like a constant underlying nervous energy). I have recently begun taking 15-20min a day to be with my 10 things. I have noticed that I mainly feel them at the pit of my stomach, or in my chest area. They also seem to intermingle at times and they turn into one big lump of emotions making it hard to decipher one from the other. Also, during the day "negative" emotions (mainly anxiety or feelings of loneliness) will arise for no reason. My body immediately reacts to them and my mind will try and attach a bad or sad "story" to them. My question is this: Are my experiences common?? And is it important to try and untangle the emotions in order to digest them individually? Thank you.
A: Your experience is valid because you are having it - not because others may be having it too. Feel what arises, when it arises, without telling any stories about it, or having agendas about what is supposed to happen. This is all that is required. Whatever happens as a consequence of engaging with your own experience this way is also required. Validating your ongoing experience by engaging with it this way is all that is required.
