(Ep. 33.) Emotions Are Not Your Enemy

What if the emotions you've spent your whole life trying to master were never your enemy — but a messenger you were taught not to hear?In this episode of Triggered & True, Laura Duncan and co-host Brian Freise take on a belief many of us absorbed young: that emotions are messy, weak, or dangerous — something to suppress and rule over rather than feel. Brian grew up seeing emotion as a sign of weakness (acceptable at a football game, nowhere else), and this conversation gently dismantles that lie, making the case that your feelings are actually how your heart tells you your story.Sparked by a listener wondering why painful reactions surface in peaceful moments — waking up, worshiping, having coffee with a friend — Laura explains how suppressed emotion backlogs until it bubbles over, and why the real purpose of emotions isn't to be managed but to help you know yourself. She and Brian talk through why some people have "no grid" for their feelings and how to start from the very beginning, why we resist emotions when we don't believe comfort is waiting on the other side, and how feeling in small, incremental doses builds trust that comfort will keep coming. Brian closes with a vulnerable personal story — one he warns is hard for him to share — that offers real hope: those big, scary emotions you've run from your whole life can become something you no longer fear, and eventually even run toward.In this episode: 🔹 Why we're taught emotions are a weakness — and the handful of "safe" places society lets them out 🔹 Why pain surfaces in peaceful moments: how suppressed emotion backlogs and bubbles over 🔹 The real purpose of emotions: not to be mastered, but to help you know yourself 🔹 Starting from zero: how to feel when you have "no grid" — and why comfort makes it safe 🔹 Brian's personal story: how the emotions you run from can become ones you run toward📩 Get your free Weekly Dose of Compassion — two short notes in your inbox every week. One to speak over yourself. One from Laura: https://www.lauraduncan.com/pl/2148814868🔗 Learn more: https://triggeredandtrue.comhttps://lauraduncan.com