Feeling powerless and trapped, doing things you don’t want to do, is one of the worst feelings.

Have you been invited to go out with friends and told them, “I can’t go because I need to do something?”

It's common to provide them with a reason that you “have to do”, “should do” or “need to do” some other obligation. This view is particularly disempowering and will leave you feeling some sense of contracted energy or inner conflict.

The true objective reality is we don’t do something out of 'need', we do it out of 'want'. This is true with everything we do. We do it because we want to do it. On some level, we are choosing to participate in the experience, even though we believe we have no choice.

High emotions can greatly reduce happiness and intimacy, leading to pain and suffering.

Charged-up relationships feel volatile. How do we turn a triggering situation with someone into an empowering opportunity to feel abundant peace and happiness?

The short answer is to love yourself, which allows you to love others, but this is how you get there:

My relationships with close family and my life partner is highly emotional at times. We know this is part of being human in today's world. We can experience heightened emotions with loved ones.

People show a spectrum of love, and that is what we really want to remember when understanding the path to feeling more love. Our love is expressed clearer sometimes than others.

Holidays, big transitions, and differences of opinion, often shine light on the parts of us that express unclear love.