 Your feelings are part of an amazing and powerful communication system designed to guide and protect you. While you don't want to be trapped, controlled, or incapacitated by your feelings, you do want to be aware of them and cognizant of what you're experiencing at any given time. That awareness enables you to assess what's going on in your life so you can choose how best to respond. As you strive to become more attuned to your feelings, here are seven feelings you should never ignore. 1. You feel drained. Are you suddenly feeling tired, drained, or exhausted? If the answer is yes, take some time to reflect on why you're feeling this way. Aside from factors like diet, sleep, physical activity, and physical health, situations in life and relationship dynamics can also impact our energy level. Unhealthy situations and relationships can leave us feeling physically and emotionally drained, sometimes in a very dramatic way. Take note of your energy fluctuations and make an effort to pinpoint when and where your energy is being depleted. 2. You feel burdened or a sense of heaviness. Sometimes what we're feeling isn't so much a lack of energy, but a sense of heaviness or being burdened. It's as if a weight is bearing down on us that we just can't seem to lift or shake off. This feeling can arise from current circumstances in our lives, but it can also stem from issues we're carrying around from the past. If you find yourself feeling this way, try to narrow down where the feeling is coming from; and then commit to taking steps to address it. 3. You feel more tense or stressed than usual. Stress is part of life, and it isn't necessarily harmful if you know how to manage it and keep it in check. But are you feeling more stressed than usual? Are you experiencing more tension throughout your body than what you're accustomed to? Sometimes we don't realize something is amiss in our lives until our body alerts us to it, through those feelings of heightened tension and stress. Take heed of what your body is alerting you to, and identify what it is that has you feeling more tense and stressed than usual.  4. You feel conflicted. Nothing is worse than feeling as if you're of two minds, being pulled in two different directions. Before you know it, you're stuck in an endless loop going back and forth. When you find yourself feeling this way, hit the pause button. Avoid "either/or" thinking; instead, aim to be creative as you search for a solution. When you're open and flexible, you make it easier for new ideas to emerge. Talking things out with someone, brainstorming, and journaling are all useful tools that can help you view things from a fresh perspective. 5. You feel pressured or coerced. Sometimes we think we're pushing ourselves, when in fact we're actually being nudged, pushed, or carried along by someone else without fully realizing it. When other people encourage or recommend that we pursue a certain course of action, we may be left feeling as if we don't have any other choice but to comply with their wishes. Even when there are consequences or repercussions for your choices, it's still up to you to make those choices. If that right to choose is being taken away from you, or you're relinquishing it because you feel pressured or coerced in someway, that's a huge problem and something is seriously wrong. Be honest with yourself about what's happening, and then take appropriate action to deal with the situation. Seek outside input or support if you need to. 6. You feel unhappy, joyless, miserable, or depressed. For many of us, our initial impulse is to run from what we consider to be unpleasant feelings. We hide from them, ignore them, push them down or try to cover them up — none of which is healthy. Instead, stand back and examine those feelings less with judgment, and more with curiosity. Where are those feelings coming from? Have the feelings emerged suddenly, or been growing over time? What's been going on in your life recently that's feeding into those feelings? If you're willing to ask questions and be honest with yourself, you can track down where the feelings are coming from. From there, you can start narrowing down what needs to happen in order to start turning things around. 7. You feel a sense of fear, dread, or foreboding. Far too often, we continue marching forward even though we feel a clear sense of fear, dread, or foreboding. We're blessed with these feelings for a reason; they alert us that something going on around us isn't right. Once you stop and assess the situation, you can make a rational determination as to whether:
Acknowledge what you're feeling; and protect and honour yourself by taking the time to assess what's going on.
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