A heavy weight hangs in my chest.
I feel suffocated under the weight of my own unfelt and unexpressed emotions.
How often have you felt this way?
How often have you woken up feeling like you don’t want to leave bed – instead, you just want to crawl into a dark hole and never come out?
How often have you carried dark, intense, dull, or draining feelings around not just for days, but for WEEKS? Perhaps even months or years.
If this is you, I get it.
I’ve been there, and I still go there.
In fact, I’m there today. But I have something to share with you that has helped me tremendously:
The power of deep listening.
Table of contents
What is Deep Listening?

Deep listening is the practice of turning toward your feelings and emotions.
Most of us have the tendency to run away from anything uncomfortable within us. It’s only natural.
But numbing, avoiding, and rejecting our pain only makes what we feel larger and ‘scarier’ than it truly is.
When we turn toward our pain with curiosity and gentleness, we often find an immediate sense of relief.
Deep listening isn’t just a new fad – it’s an ancient practice that can be found in many old cultures, such as the Australian Indigenous peoples (known as Dadirri).
Why Undigested Emotions Are Your Worst Enemy

You need to digest your emotions.
Yes, you heard me.
Emotions aren’t rubbish – they’re not meant to be stuffed away within the trashcan of your psyche. They’re made to be felt.
The word ‘emotion’ itself comes from the 16th century, tracing its roots back to the French word émouvoir which means ‘excite, stir up.’
More recently, emotion has been explained as e-motion, or energy in motion.
Letting this energy move throughout us is the most natural and organic process. But thanks to our cultural, religious, and often familial conditioning, we’re taught otherwise.
Depending on what cultural context we’re from, we’re taught that “being angry” is bad and dangerous.
Crying is looked down upon as “weak” or “melodramatic.”
Even expressing joy or intense excitement is seen as “being attention seeking” or “inappropriate.”
But as our favorite psychologist/sage Carl Jung writes,
What you resist, persists.
That stuffed away anger isn’t going anywhere. That buried grief doesn’t just disappear.
It remains undigested within your psyche, within your unconscious. Within your body.
It forms part of your shadow self and intensifies your soul loss.
How to Practice the Art of Deep Listening

I’m convinced that at the root of most anxiety and depression is undigested emotion.
People are either weighed down by this energy (as in depression) or are hyperstimulated by it (as in anxiety). Sometimes, we experience both unfortunate scenarios.
But what I have found over and over again – in the personal stories of others, in public talks, in juicy books, in other’s blog posts, in my own direct experience – is that you need to practice one thing:
Deep listening.
And it’s an intensely spiritual practice.
It’s also at the root of inner work.
Here’s how you can bring this practice into your life:
1. Heart-gut centering

According to science, we have three brains: the head, heart, and gut.
We have a lot of experience using our head – but we tend to neglect the heart and gut.
Like disembodied heads, we float throughout our days barely aware of our inner landscape. Who can blame us? We’re conditioned to be that way.
But the simple practice of placing one hand over your heart, and the other over your stomach, can change everything.
So please, try this.
Next time you’re feeling overwhelmed by unmetabolized emotions, go somewhere quiet. Place a hand over your heart and gut, and be still.
Tune into yourself.
This is the essence of deep listening.
When I do this practice, emotions often rush to the surface. Tears can sometimes well up. Resurrected anger can begin to burn volcanically.
In short: the energy buried inside becomes alive again.
This is a good thing.
By placing a gentle hand over your heart and gut, you’re awakening the intelligence and wisdom inherent in there. Your only job is to be quiet, open, and receptive.
And remember, if at any point this Heart-Gut Centering practice gets too intense, you can stop. Do something else. Drink a cup of water, eat, and ground yourself.
2. What can you hear right now, down to the minutest detail?

Asking the simple question “What can I hear right now, down to the minutest detail?” is a simple doorway into deep listening.
Try it for a moment.
Stop reading, close your eyes (or look away), and notice every sound emerging in this present space.
What can you pick up on?
Perhaps there’s a rush of cars in the distance. Maybe a bird is singing, a cricket is chirping, and a refrigerator is humming. You might even notice the sound of your own breathing.
This deep listening practice is actually a form of mindfulness meditation.
By deeply listening to every sound around you, you’re expanding your field of awareness. Instead of remaining contracted, you’ll feel expanded, refreshed, and renewed!
The beauty is that not only can you practice this in any moment, but you can also pair it with the previous technique. (Those two done together are pure magic!)
3. Stream of consciousness writing

A more active form of deep listening can be experienced through stream of consciousness writing.
Why write?
Writing releases creative energy and helps to create mental clarity. If you’re anxious, depressed, or otherwise burdened by a lot in life, writing is your best friend.
If you’re lonely and have no one to turn to, write it all down.
In fact, writing (or journaling) helped me hold onto my sanity through periods of existential crisis and when I was going through the dark night of the soul. I still do it regularly to this very day!
To begin your stream of consciousness writing:
i – get a piece of paper. You can also use a note-taking app on your phone or laptop. But I recommend using a physical pen and paper – it makes the experience feel more tangible and real.
ii – Next, set a timer for ten minutes, then begin. Don’t stop writing until the timer goes off.
Don’t overthink.
Don’t worry about grammar, spelling, or punctuation.
Don’t edit, delete, or judge your writing.
Just spill it all out – even if it sounds like total trash or nonsense.
Remember, the point of this practice is to engage in an active form of deep listening. In other words, you’re tuning into and expressing the contents of your inner world.
iii – Once you’re finished, read over what you’ve written – this too is deep listening. You’re listening for the truth of how you feel.
Many people are shocked and surprised by this simple practice. It’s not uncommon to have sudden epiphanies or to feel miraculously unburdened from your unspoken pain.
But even if the practice isn’t immediately phenomenal, stick with it!
Just the act of tuning in and churning out already gets the stifled energy within you moving. And through repetition, this deep listening practice can alchemize some deep growth, self-awareness, and transformation.
Conclusion

I am large, I contain multitudes.
– Walt Whitman
As humans, we are one part animal, one part divinity.
We’re not automatons. We can’t live our lives burying away the truth of what lives within us. Repression and avoidance only equal stagnation and illness.
As Whitman writes, we contain multitudes.
There is so much within us that wants to be seen and felt – and this is part of the human experience.
Each one of us is like a galaxy, with numerous shimmering planets, stars, and solar systems that are ever-expanding.
But to suppress how we feel – to be “too busy,” or even just to be innocently unaware of our inner reality – is like walking around carrying a dead galaxy within us.
And when there are no stars, no planets, nothing … what is left?
Blackness. A black hole. A void.
To practice deep listening is to reawaken the galaxy and constellation of our inner being.
Yes, sure, it might be uncomfortable at first.
But soon we feel more connected, more alive, and more ensouled.
All we need to do is to remember to turn toward rather than away from that which simply wants to be felt within us.
How do you practice deep listening? If this article has inspired any feelings or thoughts within you, I’d love to hear them below!

Thank you for sharing this. It totally resonates with me and I can completely relate to it! Especially your 1st sentence. Hardest part of the day now is waking up from sleep to a reality I don’t want to be in but feel powerless to change now. Just wish it was all over. But what can we do? Have to take it one day, one moment at a time. Your e-mails help a bit to guide me through this long, ongoing “dark night of the soul”. God Bless you.
Greg
Hi Greg, I understand completely how you feel, I’ve always been an optimist but when faced with everything that’s going on in the world at the moment I have begun to dread waking up in the morning too! As you say we feel powerless to change things and feeling powerless gives rise to all sorts of emotions. There’s definitely a lot of heavy energy around. I think you’re spot on taking things one moment and one day at a time as the present moment is really all that exists. Much love x
Thanks for connecting Greg and Joanne. You know, I feel this way too from time to time. There is a lot of heavy and oppressive energy in the world right now. Some days it can feel hard to do anything. But we’re not alone. We’ve got fellow souls here and out in the world who feel just the same way. Having the philosophy of one day at a time is important and so helpful. Much love to both of you. ❤
If anyone still read this, try the books and essays of Charles Eisenstein. I feel lost like you, too, still, but this has helped me a lot. Now I feel what I need do is help to fill up the ditches that seem to deepen every day. I must not allow separation but never give up understanding each other. This does not mean I give up my point of view, I don’t, but if we stand together and do not allow “them” to seperate us, chances are that we might end up peacefully in a better world. Again, it’s not ‘us and them’. Mind you, this does not mean we give in!
Also for me it’s good to know that you are out there all over the world and feel the same way! Thank you, that is really comforting!
I hear you Greg, it can definitely feel overwhelming to live in this day and age – one day at a time as you say. ♡
“Have to take it one day, one moment at a time.” – absolutely Greg, and remember that there are so many that feel the way you do. We’re all in this together ♡
I don’t know how but it just magically works!
Thanks so much for share this knowledge with us!
Happy to share, Douglas ♡
Dear Luna,
I have always been huge on watching the stars. Something my dad got me interested in when I was just a little girl. Last summer I began noticing some very different stars in our sky. At first they seem to be of one unit but as I watch they split into two, seem to dance, then form back into one. In the beginning I noticed just one of these odd stars then as I looked a bit more at the night sky there seem to be several of these strange stars in the sky. I have looked all over the internet and haven’t been able to find anything about these rather new and different stars in our sky. Have you or any others noticed these strange what I call “dancing stars” in the night sky?
Hey Kelly,
I love that you’re a star gazer. ;)
I’ve never seen these dancing stars before, that is a mystery to me. I’m sure there would be many explanations offered by a variety of people all the way from extraterrestrials to a visual optical illusion. I hope you find the answers you’re looking for!
Deep Listening? Hmmmm….. lately I’ve been trying to touch the old pain somewhere deep inside me. I downloaded the very first music album I bought and identified with as a pre-teen (Ozzy Ozbourne / Diary of a Madman) and I’ve been listening to songs as I meditate and concentrating on experiencing what the internal energies are doing inside of me as this music plays. I know that I’ve touched the edge of a really old ball of stagnant energy that’s been stuck for many years..
I just tried this heart-gut centering paired with the deep listening as I played another song from this album and really tried to connect with the inner me – the past me – who is still holding onto all those bottled up emotions from that time of my life and I’m feeling some things now. I sense positive changes to that old yucky energy as it is already loosening up just a little bit.
I’m also still working my way through your Shadow-Work Journal. Thank you for providing resources and ideas and support as I delve ever deeper. I appreciate all you are doing for the world around us.
I like that approach, of listening to music from an earlier period of life – that’s just brilliant. I find that some smells also bring back memories or at least old and forgotten feelings buried away. Thank you for sharing this, Jewlz. And I’m so glad you find this, and our Shadow Work Journal, helpful ❤
For me, deep listening happens about half an hour after waking at approx 3 am. After the soggy dull grogginess of sleep has changed into some activity ( after the first glass of water and coffee of the day), strange thoughts are triggered and contradictory messages no longer appear and disappear from my inner view in the normal sense, but begin to spin in a whirl.
As I do not wish to deal with them at this time of day, or cannot face them. As body stiffness, skin itches, sounds, hot spots, cold feet, night sounds outside, or just body position, ego visual crap, or last night TV jingle emerges to grind away, overlapping with questions of can I never find inner peace?? Can I not be on the road of meditative deep bliss, or at least manifest some sense of why this whirl is happening to only me!
This builds the volume of surface anxiety, till it feels like my only reason for trying to sit quietly was to spin on inner garbage and hope that the warmth of the dressing gown and the comfort of the rocker recliner will suffice sufficiently to calm the savage beast and allow deep states to overcome anxiety and physical discomforts to re-enter sleep.
When this negative pool or whirling vortex arises, it can either be from too much Dark Side re-emerging from the subconsciousness and mixing with past life blocks and weakness, fears, phobias unresolved issues. Or you feel oppressed by some external energy force that seems to be countering attempts to quieten the system.
When this happens I allow myself to not place any controls on how meditative things function, emerge, or need to be quiet. I just allow all the crap to free flow out, picking off extreme pieces which are totally (not of me) and telling them to delete and piss off! At the same time just very slow steady deep breathing to trick my system into thinking that it’s not stressed that is needed, but deeper quieter breathing to the physical point of rest and sleep.
At first, this seems stupid and unworkable and makes one feel total dred for attempting to break out of the whirl, total unworthiness for trying to re-establish worthiness as a human being. But after holding your ground with deep breathing and allowing the individual pieces of flying debris to be sighted and deleted, slowly (over an hour sometimes) thoughts begin not to toss around but settle, the physical body has knots but is beginning to accept them and the mind cools sufficiently for clear thinking. Visual dream states creep back to ease the psychological tension, and trusted emotions return as valid as you calm down and …Zzzz
Conclusion:- When you feel like your straining the volume and flow of every thought good and bad like fast water through a very small aperture, say a small tap that will not turn off, you are not alone. It’s not personal just to you, as we all get this crap from time to time. Just stick to your action plans of slow breathing and inner listening to your system’s wants and needs. Cut the crap and feel the peace and balance re-emerge. As you are responsible for easing the flow and can become your own best driver of the mind, feelings, and emotions and where you intend them to come and go. You are your own best friend and confidant!
Thank you for sharing this John. Your comment reminded me of what has helped me, asking “from where did this emotion/feeling come from?” When I trace it back, I realize that it is spontaneous, just like clouds coming into the sky. It’s not personal. When I can see that the feelings/thoughts aren’t personal (i.e., it’s not like I was just sitting there deliberately creating or planning them all out), I feel greater relief. There’s less attachment. I don’t need to condemn them or take the burden of them on. I don’t even need to wish for better feelings. They’re just like sudden gusts of air, the rumble of an earthquake, or a trickle of nature. This doesn’t always work (particularly when strongly attached to them), but it’s yet another helpful approach.
Thank you Luna – for yet another thought provoking, emotional tuning – blog on empathetic listening to self-expression. Journaling has helped me reveal subconscious patterns, and so has dialoguing with the self as a mere observer. While syncing our gut to our heart, we reclaim our sense of power by activating the throat to express freely. Thus the throat is an active agent of the process of deeper engagements with self expression. Thanks again
I’d be interested in what your “dialoguing with the self as a mere observer” involves, if you’re open to elaborate a bit more. Thanks for sharing here Hussain!
I really like my own journaling – but it is a bit different from “Stream of consciousness writing”
– Because it has a specific structure (but to be honest it also can easy create a space for “Stream of consciousness writing”
It is based on coaching “G.R.O.W” model questions
I trook all of them from here:
performanceconsultants.com/grow-model
and I use them sometimes for my own pleasure !!!
:)))
Here they are:
Goal
• What do you want?
• What is the aim for this discussion?
• How would you like it to be?
• What does that look like?
• What will you be saying to yourself?
• What will that enable you to do?
• What will other people be saying to you?
• What will you have that you don’t have now?
• Imagine 3 months from now, all obstacles are removed and you have achieved this: What do you see/hear/feel?
• What new elements are in place?
• What is different?
Reality
• What is happening at the moment?
• How important is this to you?
• On a scale of 1–10, if an ideal situation is 10, what number are you at now?
• What number would you like to be at?
• How do you feel about this?
• What impact is this having on you?
• What’s on your shoulders?
• How does this impact other areas of your life?
• What are you doing that takes you towards your goal?
• What are you doing that is getting in the way of your goal?
• How much …?
• How many …?
• Who else does it affect?
Options
• What could you do?
• What ideas do you have?
• What alternatives do you have?
• Is there anything else?
• If there were anything else, what would it be?
• What has worked in the past?
• What steps could you take?
• Who could help you with this?
• Where could you find out the information?
• How could you do that?
Will
• What will you do?
• How will you do that?
• When will you do it?
• Who will you talk to?
• Where will you go?
• Is there anything you need to put in place before that?
• How committed are you to taking that action?
• What will it take for you to commit to that?
Lucas, this is an amazing resource!! Thank you for sharing! Speaking from experience, answering questions such as this *seems* simple, but they can take you to deep realizations quite quickly.
A dozen days ago I wanted to answer to this question:
“Who else does it affect?”
…and thought to myself – Ok I need a few more additional questions – and found such questions in a book by Joseph O’Connor “NLP Workbook” in a subchapter “Ecology”
…so one tiny & innocent question:
“Who else does it affect?”
…turned into this:
* * *
(a quote from Joseph O’Connor’s “NLP Workbook”)
Internal Ecology
An internal ecology check is when you check with your own feelings that a course of action would be a wise one to follow.
The ecology of your physical body is shown in your physical health.
Your mental ecology is shown by your feelings of congruence or incongruence.
Incongruence is the feeling that the change has consequences that are uncertain (so you need more information), or are negative (so you need to think again). Incongruence is not bad, but you need to be aware of it and explore why you are feeling it.
A typical incongruent response will be an uneasy feeling, usually in the stomach.
A visual incongruence is often a sense of the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle not making sense.
The classic incongruent phrase is Yes, but…
External Ecology
Internal ecology shades into external ecology because we are all part of a wider system of relationships.
Internal and external ecology are two different perspectives on the same system. An external ecology check examines how your outcome will affect other significant people in your life.
Make a leap of the imagination and become them.
• How will your change affect them?
• Does it go against any of their values?
• Does this matter?
• How will they react?
For an internal ecology check the questions you need to ask are:
• What are the wider consequences of my action?
• What will I lose if I make this change?
• What extra will I have to do?
• Is it worth it?
• What will I gain if I make this change?
• What is the price of making this change and am I willing to pay it?
• What are the good aspects of the present state?
• How can I keep those good aspects while making the change I want?
Listen, feel and look carefully for your answers.
* * *
Yes – I agree 100%!!!
With such questions you can really dive quite fast and deep into the core of understanding your goal/issue/outcome
Internal and external ecology, ahh brilliant!! I love that perspective, I love seeing ourselves, each other, and the world as an ecosystem. Just beautiful and very evocative. Thank you for sharing! This has triggered some new reflections within me. :)
Your articles just get better and better in their depth but also in the grace-filled way they are written. Thank you.
Wow, this was such a lovely compliment and made me smile, thank you Andrew!
This came to me at a time when I’m going through deep suffering, but also what I hope is deep transformation. Thank you from the bottom of my being – it’s not only helpful, but good to know I’m not alone. Sending love!
You’re most definitely not alone, many of us reading this are with you (including me, who wrote it) ♡ lots of love right back to you Ashly.
Dear Luna Y Sol,
You have shared my path since the beginning of the pandemic and you have been so in tune, so synchronistic, your support has often been and still is my deepest well of support. I thank you so much for your wisdom, insight, and steadfast presence in my life. I have gone through the tunnel of pandemic home alone and jobless, but my present challenge is that the new job turns out to be yet another gamble with the abyss. I do struggle to keep a clear head about my direction and am using all the spiritual tools that you guys are so good at, but this is like the third ghost in Dickens’ Scrooge – even down to the birth date of my new boss. I know this is the latest challenge and am hoping that I will finally burn the last of that karma, but oh boy it is quite something … My beloved Lone Wolves, your wisdom keeps me afloat … Keep up the good work my blessed Angels ….
Take it easy and be gentle with yourself. Starting a new job on top of the pandemic is a tough transition! Sending lots of love your way, fellow wolf ❤
Thank you so much for sharing this invaluable wisdom, Aletheia. I too find myself in ‘that place’ again. From one warrior woman to another – I hear you, I see you and I feel you. I’m very grateful for you and Sol; for all that you are and all that you do. Many blessings from the U.K.
Thank you sincerely for these kind and supportive words, Tracey. Much love and gratitude to you sister!
Great read.
The awakening to 5D gets much “tougher” the closer we get.
♡
Wow,thank you..your article made me pause and actually realize,the importance of not burying your emotions. I’ve been doing that for a few months,trying to process alot of personal issues..I need a good long cry,it cleans the soul..thank you once again,your articles and wisdom are so much appreciated
This is AWESOME. Thank you. So many people try and advise for emotions to be suppressed, despite them being such a natural thing! This guide on how to find safe ways to release emotions eas just such a beautiful read. I really like lonerwolf. Personally, I write once I need a release and it works like a charm!
Beautiful! Yes, writing is one of my favorites too (if you can’t tell already haha). So simple yet so powerful!
Thank you, in a profound act of synchronicity, I find that whenever I receive something from.you in my inbox, it’s the universe giving me a gift for exactly what I need in that moment. This article, and your admission that you’re going through this exact feeling right now felt like a blessing.
Much love
J.
What a blessing, to be able to give and receive in this way. Thank you for sharing this, J ♡