One of the wisest statements I ever read said that feelings must be owned before they can be disowned. People who make the psychological approach of “stuffing their feelings” do themselves a disservice. They avoid hard reality instead of working through it.
When I was a pastor in Yorkville, Tennessee, I went to the home of a man whose aged mother had died. Her body was brought to the home until time for the funeral. An older woman was standing beside the grieving son as he viewed his mother’s remains for the first time, and the woman was giving a nonstop chant, “Don’t cry now; don’t cry.”
That was very unsound advice. We are made with a soul that consists of mind, will and emotions. We dare not deny any one of those aspects of our being if we want to be emotionally and psychologically whole.
In the Charlie Brown comic strip Lucy would often say, “Good grief, Charlie Brown!” Good grief is that which is expressed so that it may be comforted and healed.