10/12/2025
The Gift of Emotion: Learning to Feel My Way Home
For most of my life, emotions felt like dangerous territory. Growing up, I was told things like “stop crying,” “don’t be so sensitive,” or “be logical.” The message was clear emotions were to be controlled, hidden, or ignored. I tried hard to be that stoic version of myself, to keep it all together, but inevitably, those emotions would leak out. My anger especially. It would surface in ways I didn’t expect or understand, and I’d be left wondering why I felt so out of control.
As I grew older, I began to realize that emotions weren’t the enemy. They were messengers. But I still believed that some were “good” like joy and love and others were “bad” like anger, fear, or sadness. I hid the ones I judged. I tried to act tough, to pretend that things didn’t hurt me, but inside I was carrying a deep ache the fear of being unwanted, the hurt of being misunderstood, and the silent belief that I wasn’t enough.
What changed everything for me was learning to feel instead of fight. Through years of personal work, study, and practice including breathwork and my training at the Wright Institute for the Realization of Human Potential I discovered that emotions are neither good nor bad. They’re information. They’re signals from the body guiding us toward what needs attention, healing, or expression.
When I began to listen to my emotions really listen I found a roadmap home to myself.
In my coaching practice today, I teach this same principle. Whether I’m working one-on-one, leading a men’s group, or guiding a breathwork session, I invite people to connect with the five core emotions: fear, hurt, anger, sadness, and joy. These five form the foundation for nearly every feeling we experience. Complex emotions like grief, shame, or pride are combinations of these. By learning to name and work with the base emotions, people gain incredible clarity not just emotionally, but in their relationships, decisions, and sense of purpose.
For me, anger used to feel like a storm I couldn’t control. Now I recognize it as energy, as a signal that something matters to me. Instead of using my anger to fight or defend, I use it to propel myself toward what I truly want to take action, set boundaries, or speak truth. The same goes for fear and hurt. When I feel that heat rise in my body, I pause, breathe, and ask, what am I really afraid of right now? What feels tender beneath this anger? Awareness alone can shift everything.
Emotions live in the body. They’re physical. I feel fear in our gut, sadness in our chest, joy in our heart, anger in my arms. Through breathwork, somatic awareness, and conscious coaching, I reconnect to those sensations to make peace with what my body already knows. Because when I stop labeling emotions as problems and start treating them as teachers, I find freedom.
Today, I can say this is the most joyful time of my life not because everything is perfect, but because I’ve made peace with my own humanity. I don’t run from my emotions anymore. I welcome them. They are part of what makes me whole, alive, and deeply connected to others.
That’s the work I do with my clients helping them listen to their own inner landscape, feel what’s true, and choose from a place of awareness rather than reaction. When you learn to embrace your emotions as guides, you don’t just manage your life you start living it.
Have a blessed, curious day.
Hal Link
https://breatheandrisewithhal.com/f/the-gift-of-emotion-learning-to-feel-my-way-home
