Feelings Aren't Necessarily Facts | Petar Sardelich, LMFT/PT/MAC, Therapist in Pasadena, CA 91101

Because it's been coming up recently, and because it's a fundamental principle of what I do in terms of therapy:

Feelings aren't necessarily facts. They are just indicators of possible realities. Of course this doesn't mean they're not facts- but that's beyond the scope of a blog. They give us information about our environment that might not otherwise be discernable or supported by our other senses. They do much more than this, but that too is too long for a blog.

Unless we have a relationship with our own emotional condition that is healthy, I'd argue that we will have a difficult time "seeing" things clearly (circumstances, other relationships, etc.), and making choices about how to handle things. This is true even in absence of grief and loss, depression, relationship problems, abuse, addiction and etc., and is certainly made worse by the presence of these issues.

Processing feelings (emotions as some call them, or as I often do, e-motions), transforming them, reconciling with them, how to identify them and what to do about our sense of things in light of our feelings is of course what counseling, therapy, and life coaching are all about. At least seeing this idea as a principle, even in absence of those things can help us tell real alarms from false ones, provide some simple relief in some circumstances, give us an opportunity to be kinder to ourselves, and an opportunity to be kinder to others and more..
More information about Petar at http://www.April30th.org.