Why are we so afraid of our feelings?
“Dad! What do you have in your hand?” squealed the little boy as he hastily clambered up his father’s sea-beaten overcoat like a playful little monkey. As he peered over his father’s big burly shoulders, the boy’s innocent brown eyes widened in giddy excitement. His eyes were transfixed on the golden compass that lay delicately in his father’s rough and calloused hands.
“This is a magical compass…” whispered the father.
As he spoke, the boy noticed two long needles on the device. One of them glowed bright yellow and pointed quaveringly northwest. While the second needle glowed crimson red. And it spun violently around in a dizzying circle.
“I received this as a parting gift from your grandfather many years ago. The gold glowing needle is enchanted and only points in the direction of wealth and treasure. While the red needle is supposed to point me in the direction of danger.”
The boy quickly asked, “Then how come the red needle keeps spinning around like that?”
“I don’t know, my son. It stopped working properly shortly after we commandeered our first ship and became pirates. I might have bumped and broken it in my first tussle.” As he was speaking, the father anxiously looked towards the direction of the golden needle.
In that moment, the faint outline of another merchant ship crested the horizon. Within an hour, it was being forcibly boarded by the father’s rag tag crew of pirates. As the father himself menacingly flung himself onto the main deck of the cargo ship, the magical compass accidentally slid out of his jacket pocket.
As it rolled and wobbled to a halt in front of the little boy’s hiding spot, the boy was suddenly startled. For the red needle was no longer whirling about madly. Instead it pointed with condemnation in the direction of his father.
Our thoughts and feelings are a lot like the two needles on this magical compass. Many of us naively choose to navigate the waters of our lives solely with the bearings of our thoughts. But if we were to neglect and ignore our feelings for far too long, we may end up shipwrecking our souls without even realizing it.
