EMOTIONS

As a child, I was often angry.
Really angry.

My parents didn’t know what to do.
They would say firmly:
“Go to your room.
And when you’ve calmed down, you can come out again.”

Those moments were awful for me.
Not because I was alone.
But because no one showed me
HOW to calm down.

I was just there -
with all those feelings.
Helpless.

I kept hearing adults say,
“She’s just very emotional.”

And that label stuck to me.
I began to believe it.

That’s my character.
That’s just how I am.
I have to live with it.
And so does everyone around me.

I stayed angry.
Even as an adult.

Many years later,
I experienced something for the first time
that completely changed my inner life.

Through reading and practicing
Shaolin mental attitudes,
I realized something
I had never heard in this way before:

I don’t have to be a victim of my emotions.
I don’t have to suffer like that.
I can learn
to notice them
without being overwhelmed by them.

I can become calmer.

A new perspective

We often mistake feelings for truth.
As if we are them.

And then it happens so quickly:
An argument with someone we love.
A tone.
A sentence.
One moment too many.

Suddenly it gets loud.
Tears.
Anger.
Words you can’t take back.

And later, that quiet regret remains:
Why did I say that?

Maybe things would be different
if we noticed just a moment earlier:

I am not this anger.
I am not this pain.
I am not this thought of injustice.

There is something in me.
But I am more than that.

Sometimes one breath
is enough
before everything explodes.

Space

For me, this realization was life-changing:

Emotions don’t need to be controlled
by suppressing them.

Instead, we can learn
to give them space —
without letting them take the lead.

I am allowed to feel fear.
But I don’t have to believe it.
I am allowed to notice anger.
But I don’t have to act from it.
I am allowed to feel sadness.
But I don’t have to stay stuck in it.

When fear becomes energy

Fear, especially, has changed for me.

At some point I realized:
Much of our fear
has nothing to do with the present moment.

It’s thoughts.
Stories about later.
Images of what might happen.

Not reality.

My body may be sitting here at the table.
Now.
And the fear is already tomorrow.

Today I often ask myself:
What is actually here?
And what is only happening in my head?

What requires action?
And what only needs a breath?

That distinction alone
brings so much calm.

Sometimes fear is not an enemy.
It is energy.

And I can learn
not to turn it against myself —
but toward something.

Toward clarity.
Toward movement.
Toward a next step.

Not because I have no fear.
But because I don’t believe everything it tells me.

Emotional freedom through awareness

For me, emotional freedom today means:

Even when someone attacks me,
I don’t have to shoot back.

Even when life feels unfair,
I don’t have to break inside.

I can stay in the present.
Even in the middle of the storm.

Emotions lose their power
when we learn to observe them
instead of being carried away by them.

Not becoming harder.
But clearer.
Not perfect.
But more present.

And maybe that is exactly
where inner peace begins.

Same situation.
New perspective.

LUMA – it begins in you.

Mini Exercise

The next time fear appears, pause for a moment.

Ask yourself:
Where do I feel the fear in my body?

Stay there for one breath.

Then ask:
Is this fear real right now?
Or is my mind telling a story about tomorrow?

Is it possible
that things could also turn out differently?

I don’t have to do anything more in that moment.
Just notice.
Just give it space.

Reflection question
What would be possible if you didn’t believe everything your fear tells you?