A New Relationship with Feeling
What If Every Emotion Was Trying to Help You?
In a culture that teaches us to manage, control, suppress, or overcome our emotions, Susan Drury offers a radically different perspective: emotions are not problems to be solved. They are messengers. Each emotion - whether it feels pleasant or painful, welcome or unwanted - carries vital information about our inner state, our unmet needs, and the healing that is asking to happen. When we learn to listen to our emotions rather than fight them, they become our most reliable guides on the journey of transformation.
In Elevating Your Origins to Love, Susan explains the neuroscience behind this understanding. Emotions are generated by the limbic system ... the brain's emotional centre - which processes information faster than the conscious mind. This means that your emotions often know something before you do. The surge of anxiety before a meeting, the wave of sadness when you hear a certain song, the flash of anger at an innocent remark - these are not random events. They are the limbic system's way of alerting you to something significant, often something connected to the childhood patterns explored throughout the book.
Susan teaches that the key to working with emotions is not to analyze them from above but to feel them from within. This is a body-based practice, not a cognitive one. When an emotion arises, instead of asking "Why am I feeling this?" or "How do I stop feeling this?", Susan invites you to ask "Where do I feel this in my body?" and "What does this feeling need?" This simple shift ... from thinking about emotions to feeling into them - opens a doorway to the body's own wisdom and to the healing that emotions are always pointing toward.
The Body Speaks Through Feeling
Susan describes how different emotions carry different messages. Anger, for example, is often a messenger of boundary violation - it arises when something important to us has been crossed or threatened. Sadness is a messenger of loss - it arises when we need to grieve something that has ended or was never received. Fear is a messenger of perceived danger - it arises when the nervous system detects a threat, whether real or remembered. And shame is perhaps the most complex messenger of all - it arises when we have internalized the belief that something is fundamentally wrong with who we are.
"Every emotion is a messenger knocking at the door of your awareness. You can ignore the knock, you can fight the messenger, or you can open the door and listen. When you listen, you discover that even the most painful emotion is carrying a gift - the gift of information about what needs to heal."
What makes Susan's approach unique is her understanding that many of the emotions we experience as adults are not responses to the present moment at all. They are echoes of childhood experiences - emotions that were too overwhelming to be fully felt at the time and were stored in the body, waiting for a safe moment to be processed. When these stored emotions are triggered by present-day events, they can feel disproportionate, confusing, or irrational. But they are not irrational. They are perfectly rational responses to the original experience, finally finding expression.
Susan's guided processes help you distinguish between emotions that are responses to the present and emotions that are echoes of the past. Both are valid. Both carry important information. But they require different responses. Present-moment emotions may call for action - setting a boundary, expressing a need, making a change. Stored emotions from childhood call for presence - the gentle, compassionate witnessing that allows them to finally be felt, honoured, and released. This distinction is one of the most practical and liberating teachings in the entire book.
Understanding Emotional Messages
Anger - The Boundary Guardian
Anger arises when something important has been violated or threatened. Rather than suppressing it, Susan teaches us to listen to anger's message about what needs to be protected, honoured, or reclaimed in our lives.
Sadness - The Grief Carrier
Sadness carries the message of loss - of something that has ended, was never received, or needs to be mourned. When we allow sadness to flow rather than damming it, it washes through and leaves clarity and peace in its wake.
Fear - The Safety Signal
Fear alerts us to perceived danger, whether real or remembered. Susan helps distinguish between fear that is responding to present reality and fear that is echoing a childhood experience - both valid, but requiring different responses.
About the Author
Susan Drury - Listening to the Body's Wisdom
Susan Drury has spent over thirty years helping people develop a new relationship with their emotions - one based on listening rather than controlling, on curiosity rather than judgment. Based in Vancouver, BC, her approach integrates neuroscience with body-based practices, the Tao Te Ching with practical healing tools.
Learn to listen to your emotions through private sessions, Susan's membership program, or the Elevated Body cards.
Learn More About SusanFrequently Asked Questions
How do I know if an emotion is from the present or the past?
Susan teaches that emotions from the past often feel disproportionate to the present situation, come with a sense of familiarity, and are accompanied by physical sensations in specific body areas. Her guided processes help you develop the discernment to distinguish between the two.
What if I've been suppressing my emotions for years?
Suppressed emotions don't disappear - they are stored in the body, waiting for a safe moment to be expressed. Susan's gentle approach creates the safety needed for these stored emotions to surface gradually, at a pace your system can handle.
Is it safe to feel intense emotions?
Yes, when done with proper support and guidance. Susan's approach is always gentle and titrated - she never pushes you to feel more than your system is ready to process. The goal is not catharsis but compassionate witnessing.
How does this connect to the body cards?
The Elevated Body cards work directly with the body's emotional storage system. Each card corresponds to a body system that holds specific emotional patterns, helping you access and release stored emotions through body awareness.
Listen to the Messengers Within
Your emotions are not your enemies. They are your most faithful messengers, carrying the wisdom of your body and the truth of your experience. Learn to listen, and they will guide you home to love.