Clearing up your emotional blindspots takes work. After all, you were avoiding those emotions for a reason. But once you can engage with those tough feelings, you’ll open yourself up to a lot more peace and happiness.
Once you identify your emotional blindspots, you need to reflect on why you’ve filed that feeling or situation into the “do not open” drawer of your brain. Was it something you picked up in your childhood? Is it an insecurity that you’re afraid to acknowledge? If it’s a minor blindspot, you may be able to figure it out on your own, but bigger issues usually require advice from someone else. Your loved ones are a wonderful source of support, but if you’re struggling with the far corners of your psyche, it might be time to reach out to a counselor or therapist.
Removing your emotional blindspots can also require reassessing your values. We often take our values for granted, but every person has unique beliefs and priorities about how we should live our lives. As life coach Jim Rees shares with Glamour, “… taking stock of our values versus someone else is a really useful way of identifying blindspots.”
When you have a shift in values, you can develop a new, healthier relationship with emotions that are painful or undesirable.
