All feelings are just feelings. No feeling is better or worse than another. Each has their gift to bring, each can cause problems. A feeling only becomes a problem if it is not accepted.

Energy, Feeling and Emotion
In its simplest form, a feeling is coloured energy. The colour you assign to the energy is based on your history. Let’s say you are walking down a dark street at night. Behind you hear footsteps. Energy begins to flow in your body. Based on the outer experience, you are likely to colour the energy as fear. Once labelled as fear, it then takes on a life of its own. Now it has become a feeling.

Now, feeling the fear, you begin to run. Now the feeling has become an emotion; a feeling in motion. The feeling is the coloured energy; an inner experience. Emotion is when the feeling becomes action.

Feeling a Feeling

The most important aspect of this step of Radical Acceptance is to feel the feeling. While that may appear obvious, very few people just feel their feelings. Most move instantly into emotion. The feeling of anger becomes yelling. Grief becomes tears. Happiness becomes laughter. Love becomes compassion. As soon as the feeling becomes emotion, you have moved away from simply feeling the feeling.