Feeding Our Emotions
Gratitude Through Emotional Awareness
Honoring What Makes Us Human
As the seasons shift and the year winds down, I’ve been reflecting on what it means to truly feel—to allow the full range of emotions to move through without judgment. Our bodies hold so much wisdom, and when we listen closely, we learn that emotions are not the enemy. They are the messengers of balance, healing, and self-awareness.
This season, gratitude isn’t just something we practice for what we have.
It’s something we practice for what we feel.
Hormones & Emotions — Understanding the Inner Connection
Our hormones are our body’s chemical messengers—powerful substances like cortisol, estrogen, dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin released by the endocrine system. They quietly regulate energy, sleep, metabolism, and—most importantly—our emotional and behavioral responses.
High cortisol → stress response (fight, flight, or freeze)
Low serotonin → low mood, irritability, or lack of motivation
Oxytocin → bonding, connection, and emotional safety
Hormones set the stage for how we feel and respond to the world.
But emotions don’t live only in the mind—they live in the body.
How Emotions Show Up Physically
Depending on the experience, emotions can appear as:
tight shoulders → overwhelm
fluttery chest → anxiety
heavy limbs → sadness
clenched jaw → anger
knots in the stomach → fear
restless nights → unprocessed thoughts
achy upper back → carrying too much
When we feel emotions, the body is speaking.
When we ignore emotions, the body holds them.
Feeding My Emotions
Seven years ago, I learned one of the most powerful tools I’ve ever practiced:
feeding my emotions.
Feeding an emotion doesn’t mean indulging it.
It means nourishing it—with attention, curiosity, and compassion.
When we feed an emotion, we let it complete its natural cycle instead of starving it with suppression. That’s how it digests and transforms.
The Cultural Disconnect
Our culture often teaches us to hide what’s real.
“Sadness means weakness.”
“Anger means danger.”
“Fear means failure.”
“Stay positive.”
“You’re fine.”
We’ve learned to perform calmness instead of embody wholeness.
But emotions aren’t problems to fix—they’re messages to feel and understand.
When we suppress them, they leak out sideways as:
tension
illness
burnout
conflict
emotional reactivity
When we honor them, they move.
The Generational Pattern
Many of us inherited emotional repression:
Child is sad.
Caregiver says: “Cheer up.”
→ Sadness is unsafe.
→ Adult becomes someone who smiles through pain.
Child is angry.
Caregiver says: “Don’t be mad.”
→ Anger = bad.
→ Adult struggles with boundaries or holds resentment.
But imagine instead:
Child is sad.
Caregiver: “You look sad. What’s making you feel that way?”
→ Emotional awareness begins.
Child is mad.
Caregiver: “You’re really angry. That’s okay. It’s not okay to hit, but it’s okay to feel anger. What happened?”
→ Emotional regulation begins.
This is the emotional literacy many of us are learning only now.
Your Key Truth
“All feelings are valid — but not all behaviors are.”
Feelings are data.
Behaviors are choices.
When we separate those two, we create space for emotional honesty and accountability.
My Story
I was a middle child—often the listener, the peacekeeper, the one who quietly absorbed more than I expressed. I learned early how to read a room, how to stay steady when others wavered. But being the listener sometimes meant my own voice faded into the background. I felt things deeply but didn’t always feel seen.
As I grew older, I became skilled at holding it all in—pushing forward, staying strong, taking care of everyone else.
But when I transitioned from the fast pace of the restaurant world into the calm of the spa world, something inside me slowed enough to listen. For the first time, I noticed the patterns—not just in my clients’ bodies, but in my own. The same tension I released from others, I began to recognize in myself. The places where I had tucked away stress, grief, and unspoken emotions.
I’m still more of a listener than a talker, and I value that. Listening—to others, to our bodies, to the quiet truth underneath our thoughts—is powerful. I also value words and understand their weight. I choose them carefully because words, like touch, carry energy.
But I’ve learned this:
Silence about our emotions isn’t strength. It’s disconnection.
You don’t need to explain your emotions to anyone to make them real.
You can let them out through writing, breath, movement, or whispering them into a hot shower.
What matters is that they have a voice—your voice.
Understanding the Layers: Hormones → Emotions → Feelings → Moods → Behaviors
Hormones
Biochemical messengers that influence energy, mood, and reactions.
Emotions
The body’s first, fast reaction. Pure instinct.
Feelings
The mind’s interpretation of the emotion.
Moods
Longer emotional climates influenced by sleep, stress, food, hormones, and environment.
Behaviors
The visible action that comes from all the layers above.
Understanding these layers gives us compassion for ourselves.
We’re not “being dramatic.”
We’re being human.
Somatic Practice: Giving Emotion a Shape
A simple practice to help emotions move through the body:
Sit quietly and ask yourself, Where do I feel this emotion in my body?
Put your hand over that area.
Breathe into it for 10 seconds.
Say softly: “I’m here. You’re allowed.”
Notice how the sensation shifts.
This is emotional feeding.
This is nervous system regulation.
Massage & Emotional Release
In massage, I often feel the untold stories that live in the muscles:
shoulders that speak of overwhelm, jaws tight with unspoken words, a chest heavy with unprocessed grief.
The body never lies; it simply waits for us to listen.
Healing begins when we bring awareness to these patterns—
not just in the muscles, but in the heart.
Simple Tools for Daily Emotional Awareness
• Step outside and breathe fresh air
• Write freely for five minutes
• Place a hand on your heart and name what you feel
• Stretch slowly—movement helps emotion move
• Practice one moment of truth-telling a day (even to yourself)
These practices invite your emotions to move, soften, and speak.
A Simple Practice: Feeding Your Feelings
Write down your main emotions.
Start with: Sad, Mad, Happy, Excited, Scared, Tired.Under each, write what brings that emotion forward.
When one arises — acknowledge it.
Talk it out, write it out, breathe it out.Look at the list of what brings joy or peace—and do more of those things.
This is your inner map.
It’s beautiful.
It’s human.
It’s you.
Invitation: Gratitude Through Emotional Awareness
This month, I invite you to feed your emotions—to listen, move, write, and honor what your body and heart are asking for.
Gratitude isn’t just about what we have—it’s about how we feel.
When we thank our body for holding space for every emotion, we reconnect with its wisdom.
Take a few quiet moments after your massage, before bed, or during your morning coffee to check in with yourself.
Ask:
“What emotion is asking to be fed right now?”
Listen.
Breathe.
Let it move.
Let it be heard.
If you need a space to reconnect with your body and emotions, my massage room is a place of warmth, stillness, and truth.
Feel. Release. Repeat.
This is how we return home to ourselves.
Feeding Our Emotions — Honoring What Makes Us Human.