Repression is a path to the dark side…

Discussions about repression often highlight the psychological, emotional, and social consequences of burying feelings, desires, or truths. Common themes include the inevitability of repressed emotions resurfacing, the toxic nature of stifled feelings, and the distinction between healthy self-control and destructive repression.  This poem from a Jedi master brings to light the choice and consequence of repeated internal abandonment.

• When you repress vulnerability it becomes armor you prove yourself over and over so no one can see the soft spot that you’re guarding.
• When you repress your intuition, it becomes indecision because you’ve trained yourself not to trust yourself.
• When you further repress self trust, it becomes permission seeking and you end up trading your personal truth for committee approval, and calling it action.
• When you repress your needs and desires they become resentment you punish yourself for wanting and you punish others for not guessing what you need. 
• When you repressed your guilt it becomes over giving, and you pay emotional debts that nobody asked you to repay.
• When you repressed disappointment, it becomes fake optimism you slap a smile over the truth because honesty feels like failure.
• When you repress your hurt it becomes sarcasm and your wit becomes sharper than the wound you never tended.
• When you repress your ambition. It becomes procrastination you hide your brilliance behind delay, and you call it timing. 

Just as stagnant water becomes fetid and toxic, so it is with our emotions.” — Unknown

When we are young, we embrace bad habits to help us traverse chaotic environments.  These repressions are survival hacks turn into habits that we shrink into tidy emotional luggage.  We must be intentional in identifying and unpacking the these dark corners before they define our future.