I've never been the type of person who has one feeling about anything. As an Enneagram 4, I put equal value on the lighter and the darker emotions, and I've never understood our cultural obsession with positivity. Lately, though, many people have been speaking up about toxic positivity, a type of social pressure put on us to perform positive thoughts and feelings. I couldn't be more wholeheartedly in favor of opening up space for darker emotions.

My hope is that we can move to a place where not only the challenging side of the emotional spectrum is accepted and even embraced, but it's normalized to talk about just how complex emotions can be. I often have contradictory, even paradoxical emotions, and I don't want to feel fear or shame about that. In fact, I see this as necessary to the creative and artist, because it is our job to be translators and meaning makers of the human condition. We need to be familiar with the entire spectrum.

This episode is my "coming out" as a complex person who experiences a wide spectrum of feelings and emotions that I treat with respect and curiosity. We all can seek to live with the essential dignity of owning and accepting our complexities, particularly our dark emotions that are not as socially acceptable.

Transcript

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