One of the unexpected benefits of pursuing greater emotional literacy & self-awareness is being able to recognize when your emotions are being manipulated.

The trouble w/ repressing or denying emotions as valid is that a person becomes emotionally illiterate. Emotions don't go away; you're just unable to recognize & interact with them.

I don't think it's a coincidence that traditions & leaders who invalidate emotions are also those most likely to be controlled & swept along by them.

For me, the process of learning to slow down, name, & explore my emotional responses to events (as opposed to denying them or simply reacting) has led to greater freedom in my *thinking*

All that to say, emotional intelligence & self-awareness are foundational to wisdom & discernment. The emotional & rational are partners in conversation w/ each other.

Setting them in opposition is a false dichotomy that leads to a kind of blindness to what is truly motivating our responses.