By developing our emotional awareness and literacy, we can build greater resilience, improve our relationships, and navigate life's challenges with more grace and understanding. It's a lifelong journey, but one that pays dividends in every aspect of our lives.

When we allow ourselves to accept and feel the whole spectrum of emotions, more space for happiness is available. Striving to only feel one emotion all the time is unrealistic and unsustainable. Let's instead try to really feel all of our emotions, so, in turn, we can feel more happiness.

In order to allow ourselves to feel all of our emotions, we need to rethink how we perceive them. Emotions are not good or bad, or positive or negative; they are just emotions. We feel emotions; we are not emotions, and we have a better ability to feel and manage our emotions when we reframe how we see them.

To have compassion for others, we must first have compassion for ourselves and continue to notice when we are judging ourselves in elusive and hidden ways. Practicing self-compassion helps us discover and overcome our self-defeating criticism and judgement and spur desired growth.

When finding ourselves reacting in ways we don't like, or when we are confused by our reactions, it's important to reflect to identify our shame triggers, how we react to feeling vulnerable, and find ways to respond more mindfully. Identifying these type of shame triggers helps us gain strength and stay present in the moments when we feel vulnerable rather than reacting out of fear and shame.