Facing Yourself

Sometimes we think of our negative emotions as separate entities from ourselves. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, the doctor creates a potion that will separate his good side from his dark side, thus transforming himself into man and beast. However, the beast begins to take over, and he begins to transform involuntarily into the violent Mr. Hyde. We can feel a similar temptation to throw all of our sadness, guilt, anxiety, loneliness into a Mr. Hyde type instead of accepting these feelings as a part of who we are. When we are honest, God listens and faithfully answers our cries. When we lie and try to separate ourselves from them, those unsaid and buried emotions will begin to find their way to the surface and take over (Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [1886]).