An increasing willingness to face the intensity waves of our emotional experience allows us to leave our various hiding places. While feeling our emotional state on the sensation level, we can ask ourselves, "Is this killing me?" Invariably, the answer is no. The experience is very unpleasant, of course, but it doesn’t rise to the level of killing us or causing lasting harm. It can be a surprising relief to find out in our own experience that the emotions we may have been fighting all our life are not as threatening as they seemed. Instead of defending against them or avoiding them, we can open up to the underlying sensations without interpretation and participate in the details of their coming and going.
To Practice: Make a habit of allowing yourself to feel all of your emotional states. Ask, "Is this killing me?" when faced with those that make you uncomfortable as they come and go.
— Christian Dillo in The Path of Aliveness