You Can Run But You Can't Hide

There are many ways in which we run from our problems. We find distractions such as food, drink, gambling, sex, partying, television, you name it and there is a distraction for everyone.

We sometimes think that these things will distract us and help us to forget our problems, but the unfortunate thing is that these distractions only serve to prolong the inevitable which is facing our problems and issues head on.

Say you have broken up with your partner or spouse. This is a devastating situation and can bring up all sorts of emotions from anger to guilt and sadness. We can grab that carton of ice cream or head to the bar with our buddies but that only masks the emotions temporarily.

Eventually they will arise and hit you right in the heart often at the least appropriate moment. We are driving down the road and someone cuts us off and the anger coming rushing out at the other driver. Or we are at work and our boss criticizes something we’ve done and we run to the bathroom in tears. Does this sound familiar?

What can we do to avoid this kind of situation from arising? We sometimes think that there is nothing that we can do to prevent it and yet many people do.
We can vent to our friends about what is bothering us and put the blame on someone else and boy doesn’t it feel good to have them agree with us and tell us what a jerk that guy was or what a bitch she was. But that good feeling is fleeting and doesn’t last.
If we had no one to vent to, what would happen? The emotions would all be stuck inside us trying to push their way up and in the silence of our own space, they become deafening and hard to ignore.

Take some time to be in silence with what has happened, allow yourself to feel what wants to come up and acknowledge it without judgment. Don’t hide from the emotions that need to be nurtured and felt. By running away, they are always chasing you. Stop running and find the compassion for yourself to feel it all and then it is much easier to let it go along with the belief that has created it.

Joy comes from the honesty about what you’re feeling and the compassionate release of it all.

Recognize the addiction that is your distraction from feeling the pain. This will be your freedom and will lead you to joy.