Mine came very, VERY, slowly. At first my therapist and I spoke a lot about my trauma and about feelings. A lot, A LOT A LOT, about how I am safe now, it's not happening now (so it's safe to feel).
Things started to surface a tiny bit after a very long time (years) of talking non-stop about my past but as stupid as it sounds, I had no idea sadness felt sad and anger felt angry and happiness felt happy. I didn't know what a feeling was or felt like when it peaked out.
He had me researching and finding things online that could represent sadness and anger and happiness once I got a bit of an idea of what they could look like. And I started to be able to name a few emotions or at least match them to the picture or video I found that would represent what I felt.
I came here and that's where feelings, for me, really took off. I think it's because I could relate to others and they felt X way and I started to see thay I felt X way too.
We then spend a HUGE amount of time trying to direct anger and shame and guilt etc as it was pointed directly on me. That I am still working on.
I am still working on naming emotions too but I can now give myself permission to feel them.
For those of us that remained numbed for years and years inside our trauma and for and then years after, it can take a while to even feel safe to feel but sometimes we need to learn what feelings even are and feel like. Be patient and gentle with yourself! :hug:
