Inner Emptiness is never going to be filled by people, things, or activities. Discover the cause of inner emptiness and learn how to fill yourself from within.
Our society is filled with addictive ways to externally fill up inner emptiness. TV commercials are constantly playing to the millions of people who are forever trying to fill the empty place within. Sugared and processed foods, clothing, cars, new homes, gadgets, plastic surgery, cosmetics, drugs, vacations or the right relationship -- all these commercials show people looking happy and fulfilled as a result of buying the advertised product.
Yet it is not the lack of any of these that cause inner emptiness.
Inner emptiness is caused by two things: a lack of connection with your own feelings and inner experience, and a lack of connection with a spiritual Source of love and guidance. Both must be present for fullness of being.
Some people on a spiritual path feel deeply connected with their Source, yet remain disconnected from their feelings -- their inner child. Connecting with Spirit is not enough to feel a wonderful fullness of being -- connection with your feelings is vital.
When your intent is to avoid pain, you can even use your spiritual connection as a means of avoiding pain. This is called a spiritual bypass, because you are attempting to avoid your shadow side and go right to the light. This would be like going into a room and meditating while your actual child is crying in pain. There is no way that this would be a loving action.
When you are unwilling to feel the deep existential feelings of loneliness, heartbreak, grief and helplessness over others, you may abandon yourself to avoid these feelings -- by staying in your head rather than being present in your body, by numbing out with substance and process addictions, by judging yourself or by making others responsible for your painful feelings. Of course you will feel empty when you refuse to feel your inner experience.
When you are willing to feel your core painful feelings -- of sorrow, loneliness, heartbreak, grief and helplessness over others -- and learn to name them, be with them with compassion, learn from them, and finally release them to Spirit, rather than avoid them, you will then also feel the core wonderful feelings of love, peace, joy, passion and aliveness. It is experiencing these wonderful core feelings that gives us the feeling of fullness within, but since all these feelings exist in the same place in the heart, we will not feel the wonderful feelings without also being willing to feel the painful ones.
In addition, you need to be willing to feel the wounded feelings -- the feelings you cause with your self-abandonment -- of fear, anger, anxiety, depression, guilt, shame, aloneness, emptiness, jealousy, envy and so on, and open to learning about what you may be doing or telling yourself that is creating them, in order to discover the core painful feelings that you may be avoiding. The wounded feelings are always being created by the protective, controlling, addictive behaviors we engage in to avoid the painful, existential core feelings.
While our society wants us to believe that looking right and having the right things, so that we can get approval or get the right relationship, will finally fulfill us, it is obvious that this is not the case. We all know of famous people who look right, have all the right things and plenty of approval and are still anxious and empty. There is no way around doing your inner work and learning to connect with yourself and your spiritual Guidance, if you want to feel full within.
If you spend a lot of time feeling empty, why not start today with practicing staying tuned in to your feelings with a compassionate intent to learn? It is only by consistently practicing being present that you will be able to discover the fullness of being that is your birthright.
Begin to learn to love yourself and fill your inner emptiness with our free Inner Bonding eCourse.
Join Dr. Margaret Paul for her 30-Day at-home Course: "Love Yourself: An Inner Bonding Experience to Heal Anxiety, Depression, Shame, Addictions and Relationships."
Connect with Margaret on Facebook: Inner Bonding, and Facebook: SelfQuest.