Hi dear Reader,

When sadness shows up, what do you do?

Do you push it away?
Numb it with work, scrolling, or staying busy?
Do you tell yourself to “stay positive” or “get over it”?

Or do you let yourself feel it?

Here’s a question for you: When was the last time you let yourself cry?

If you can’t remember, or if the answer makes you uncomfortable, you’re not alone.
Most of us were never taught how to be with sadness.
We were taught to avoid, suppress, or shame ourselves for feeling it.

But here’s the truth: Sadness isn’t your enemy. It’s information.

And when you learn to recognize it, feel it, and understand what it’s telling you—everything changes.

Today, let’s talk about sadness and grief, not as emotions to fear, but as powerful teachers guiding you toward deeper connection, meaning, and fulfillment.

Sadness & Grief—and how to transform your relationship with them.

What Sadness Really Tells You

Let’s complete our emotional vocabulary:

• Anxiety says: “I can’t handle what’s coming”
• Fear says: “Don’t do it—something bad will happen”
• Overwhelm says: “I’m too exhausted to function”
• Shame says: “There’s something fundamentally wrong with me”
• Anger says: “What matters most to me has been violated”
• Sadness says: “I’m experiencing hurt or disappointment”
• Grief says: “I’m processing what was, what wasn’t, or what will never be”

Sadness is your heart’s way of honoring what mattered.
​It’s not a sign of weakness.
It’s evidence that you’re capable of deep connection, love, and meaning.

Can You Recognize Sadness When It Shows Up?

Most people can’t, because sadness doesn't always look like tears.
Sometimes it shows up as:

- Numbness or disconnection
- Fatigue
- Irritability or short temper
- Loss of interest in things you used to love
- A heavy feeling in your chest or throat

This is where emotional literacy becomes essential.

Can you identify sadness when it’s present? Can you distinguish it from overwhelm, grief, disappointment, or loneliness?

The more accurately you can name what you’re feeling, the more power you have to process it.

What do you DO with sadness when it shows up?

Most people fall or fluctuate between these 4 Emotional narratives of I need to:

• Hide my emotions
• Deny my emotions
• Control my emotions
• Feel the same as others feel

But there’s a fourth option: Process it consciously.

Processing sadness means:
- Recognizing it: “I’m feeling sad right now”
- Allowing it: Giving yourself permission to feel without judgment
- Understanding it: What am I sad about? What loss am I experiencing?
- Releasing it: Through tears, journaling, movement, or expression
- Integrating it: What does this sadness teach me? What do I need?

This is emotional resilience in action.

Sadness Often Comes in Groups

As a trained emotions coach, I’ve learned that emotions rarely travel alone.
They come in families, in groups.

Sadness often shows up with:
- Grief - for what was or wasn’t
- Disappointment - when expectations aren’t met
- Loneliness - feeling disconnected or unseen
- Regret - wishing things had gone differently

Can you spot when multiple emotions are present? This awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence.

Use the Wheel of Emotions to identify what’s really underneath your sadness.

Underneath every emotion is a need trying to be heard.

When you feel sadness, ask yourself:

What need is unmet right now?
- The need for connection and love?
- The need to be seen or understood?
- The need to grieve a loss?
- The need to honor what mattered?
- The need for comfort or support?

When you identify the need, you gain clarity on what to do next.

Let's Practice: Feel, Reflect, Understand

Here’s a simple practice that builds emotional mastery:

Every day, take 5 minutes to journal:

1. What am I feeling today? (Name it specifically, use The Wheel of Life)
2. Where do I feel it in my body? (Chest? Throat? Stomach? Head?, Shoulders? Jaw?)
3. What triggered this emotion? (A conversation? A memory or a Thought? A realization?)
4. What need is underneath? (What am I longing for? What am I missing?)
5. What would help me feel better? (Connection? Rest? Expression? Movement?)

This practice trains you to:
- Recognize emotions quickly
- Feel them without avoidance
- Understand their message - Process them constructively

Download my mini Self-Compassion Guide to support this practice, as we tend to be hard on ourselves and judge how we feel.
I often hear: I shouldn't feel this. Some people have it worse...

Here’s what most people don’t realize: You can’t selectively numb emotions.

If you block out sadness, you also block out joy, love, passion, and fulfillment.

But when you learn to feel sadness, grief, to process it, understand it, and release it, you open yourself to the full spectrum of human experience.

You become:
- More present in your relationships
- More connected to what matters
- More alive to joy, love, and meaning
- More resilient when challenges arise
- More fulfilled in your daily life

From emotional suppression and "control" or overwhelm to emotional mastery.
From numbness to aliveness.
From disconnection to deep fulfillment.

Emotional resilience (literacy and connection) isn't something you’re born with.
​It’s a skill you develop.

And like any skill, it gets stronger with practice.

This is emotional intelligence.
This is emotional resilience.
This is freedom.

This is week 6 of our 8-week journey through emotions:

1. Anxiety – Doubting your abilities
2. Fear – False Expectations Appearing Real
3. Overwhelm – When everything feels like too much
4. Shame – The emotion you’re hiding from everyone
5. Anger – What your anger is really telling you
6. Sadness/Grief (this week) – What do you do when sadness shows up?
7. Loneliness/Disconnection – Why you feel alone even with others
8. Confusion/Uncertainty/Stuckness – When you’ve lost connection to yourself

If you’re ready to stop avoiding your emotions and start understanding them, if you want to feel fully alive, connected, and fulfilled, let's talk.

As a trained emotions coach, I guide clients to emotional resilience and mastery. The outcome of emotions coaching? ​
You feel more.
You connect more deeply.
You live more fully.
You know how to bounce back from emotionally intense experiences and relationships.

​Book a free introduction call, and let’s explore your relationship with emotions.

​

With love and inspiration,
Kora

P.S. Start today with the Wheel of Emotions.
The next time sadness shows up, use it to identify exactly what you’re feeling.
This one practice will help you increase your emotional literacy.