{"id":1706,"date":"2025-10-29T12:58:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/?p=1706"},"modified":"2025-11-29T13:04:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T18:04:55","slug":"feel-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/?p=1706","title":{"rendered":"Feel It"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Dearest Readers,<\/p>\n

How are you doing? I hope you\u2019re going gently and experiencing some softness in these hard times.<\/p>\n

You might be surprised to see another letter from me so soon. I\u2019ve been averaging about two a year but I met an old friend in July who encouraged me to post more often. \u201cOnce a month!\u201d he cheered as we said good-bye. (He\u2019s a professional coach.)<\/p>\n

So here I am again, a month later.<\/p>\n

Lately, I\u2019ve been listening to the audiobook version of \u201c1984\u201d by George Orwell (read by the brilliant actor Peter Capaldi<\/a>) and finding its themes chillingly similar to what\u2019s happening in our world today.<\/p>\n

In 1948, Orwell imagined a future where the falsification of reality and acceptance of official lies were the cultural norm. Nearly eighty years later, here we are.<\/p>\n

And yet \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Party had not been able to kill their human feelings. The Party had not been able to kill their humanity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These lines from the book strike deep. Somehow, in this age of fake news and corrupt leadership, we must continue to affirm our humanity through the simple act of feeling.<\/em><\/p>\n

Feeling is difficult. Numbing out is much easier. We only have to stare at a screen. Or reach into our pockets for the phone. To identify a feeling I must reach into my Self.<\/p>\n

I have a list of feelings<\/a> at hand because I find it so challenging to name exactly what it is I\u2019m feeling.<\/p>\n

These days \u2026<\/p>\n

I feel horrified.<\/em><\/p>\n

I feel angry.<\/em><\/p>\n

I feel despair.<\/em><\/p>\n

I feel powerless. <\/em><\/p>\n

Naming the feeling seems to loosen the grip of anxiety. By saying, \u201cI feel overwhelmed,\u201d the stuck energy can move. \u201cI feel numb,\u201d can thaw the freeze state.<\/p>\n

I recently witnessed a friend grieving openly in a support group. She kept apologizing for her tears, embarrassed that she was being such a \u201chot mess\u201d in public.<\/p>\n

But all of us in the group were then moved to share our own experience of grief. Her authenticity and vulnerablility strengthened and inspired us. We were uplifted.<\/p>\n

When we share what\u2019s really going on (in a safe space), we affirm our humanity.<\/p>\n

And when we affirm our humanity, we participate in something greater than politics and war. We resist the forces of dehumanization.<\/p>\n

Our feelings remind us: we are alive.<\/em><\/p>\n

With you on the journey,<\/p>\n

Celia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dearest Readers, How are you doing? I hope you\u2019re going gently and experiencing some softness in these hard times. You might be surprised to see another letter from me so soon. I\u2019ve been averaging about two a year but I met an old friend in July who encouraged me to post more often. \u201cOnce a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1098,1102,1101,402,1100,1103,1099,910],"class_list":["post-1706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-1098","tag-authoritarianism","tag-big-brother","tag-divine-authority","tag-feel-your-feelings","tag-non-violent-communication","tag-peter-capaldi","tag-spiritual-journey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1708,"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706\/revisions\/1708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celiamcbride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}