Have You Become Emotionally Numb?

When we experience mild to severe feelings of detachment to the point it’s hard for us to access normal feelings any more, in that moment we are experiencing emotional numbness.

This includes both positive and negative emotions because you can’t just shut off one feeling. Common causes of emotional numbness include different types of stress and/or pain… from receiving bad news … to being in an accident … to recovering from the death of someone close … to a relationship breakup … to feeling deeply humiliated or ashamed.

So how do you overcome emotional numbness?

1. The first thing to do is to choose to value and accept all emotions – no matter what they are. Also, try and grasp the fact that suppressing your emotions will likely lead to heartache and problems later on (because they will more than likely resurface at inappropriate times.)

2. Try to understand that feelings and actions are two very different, and unrelated, things. That is, you can still feel angry without becoming violent – so don’t assume your feelings will affect your actions, too.

3. Try to figure out the message behind intense emotions. Are you angry because you’ve been hurt, used or abused? Are you sad because deep down you feel that you’ll never find true love - as you can’t believe that anyone will love you for who you really are below the surface?

4. Take that risk – and find the courage to ask someone for help. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll know that there are those who genuinely love you – like a true and caring friend. The important thing remember is to not isolate yourself, and to make the extra effort to prioritize self-care. You need other people to help you work through this.

5. Seek professional help if the symptoms persist. There are excellent counselors and therapists out there who have the training and skills to help you to shake the numbness off – so you can live a more fulfilling and healthy life.

6. Be patient with yourself. It’s likely to take time because you will need to learn to trust, and take some barriers down, so you can be yourself again (and that is often hard to do when you’ve experience hurt and pain).

TJ

True Joy

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” - John 15:11

Some say marriage is one of the best experiences in life, or maybe the birth of your first child finds its way ahead of marriage on your list. You might even consider the best experience in life to be having enough money to afford the finer things in life.

Those are all things that can make us happy. But something in marriage happens, it's called life. The honeymoon ends. Those beautiful newborns grow up and we find our smiles exchanged with tears and frustration. Money fades and even when it lasts, it only offers a shallow happiness.

I find myself just going through the motions of life way too often. Just scraping enough of the goodness of God to get me through the day. The crumbs from His table become my breakfast, lunch and dinner. So I find myself always hungry and unsatisfied with my own worldly pursuit of happiness and how it never satisfies.

I have to constantly remember where real joy comes from. Not the temporary, fleeting kind happiness so many crave. The joy of the Lord. The joy that fills my soul and overflows so much that others can share in my joy as well. The unmatched, unconditional joy that only comes from our daily, and for me sometimes minute-by-minute, walking with Jesus. Our goal should be to pray for God to grant us the strength to always find our joy in Jesus, and the fact that only Jesus can bring us true joy.

TJ

Why Complicate Life

1. Missing somebody – Call.

2. Wanna meet up – Invite. 

3. Wanna be understood – Explain.

4. Have questions – Ask. 

5. Don’t like something - Speak up.

6. Like something – Share it. 

7. Want something - Ask for it. 

8. Love someone – Tell them.

We only have one life. Keep it simple. 

TJ

Helping with Hurricane Harvey Relief

 After his show Kevin Jackson was asked to sign a guitar along with the rest of the artist to be auctioned with proceeds going to Harvey Relief!

It was an awesome thing. We all need to do our part to help those devistated by Hurricane Harvey!

       

 

TJ