Emotional understanding and expression through a spiritual lens was the topic of a Campus Ministry event held on Wednesday, Feb. 16 in Lower St. John’s. 

“Engage: WTF? What’s That Feeling?” was an event hosted by the Rev. Jeff Sullivan, S.J., to discuss the topic of emotions and why they’re difficult to share and how to let ourselves feel them. 

“I was hoping for students to get a sense of how God is with them as they express emotions,” Jordan Whitcher, one of the VIA and Engage Coordinators for Campus Ministry, said. “As students it’s hard to recognize God during the difficult days.” 

Sullivan spoke openly about his battle with emotions and how important it was to contemplate emotions instead of containing and suppressing them. 

In his early days as a Jesuit, Sullivan said he would try to thicken his skin and push down the emotions he was feeling. Later he said he would come to find himself embracing his anger, sadness and fear in the presence of God. 

“It’s okay to feel what emotions you have and important not to put any judgment on them, but to hold them in front of God,” Sullivan said. 

During the lecture presentation, Sullivan emphasized the importance of recounting one’s emotions during the day and reflecting upon them. “Take a few minutes to name your emotion.” he said, “When you name your emotions it will help you locate where you stand and help you manage your behavior.” 

The event was not shy of including college humor and fun paradigms that made visualizing emotional hardships easily relatable. 

Sullivan utilized the movie characters from “Inside Out” in his presentation to perceptibly display how emotions function in our being. He spoke about how the different emotions all have an essential part of understanding ourselves and experiences. 

“Where your emotions are, there your desires can be found.” Sullivan said during his synopsis of how Biblical scriptures and stories related to emotional challenges. 

The presentation defined emotions as “the signal of the soul.” 

“Emotions are okay to feel and they’re valid.” Whitcher said, “God is with [us] during those feelings.” 

Erin Meyer, a junior in management and finance, and one of the Via and Engage Coordinators added in an interview that she hoped to, “destigmatize emotions and share that it’s okay to sit with those emotions… by relating it to prayer it helps foster growth.” 

When asking about why the choice of Sullivan being the speaker at this event, Whitcher replied that Sullivan “has been a mentor [to] students for so many years… he has a strong connection with students and it’s good to bring someone that can talk about these hard things that students go through.” 

Via and Engage Coordinator and junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, Davis Reed said that his favorite part about planning this event was “spending time with Father Sullivan and seeing him every week. It was fun to come up with the topic name with him.” 

Reed said that the event would give “a sense of community […] where others hope to learn and listen and to get to know themselves.” 

The students that attended were asked to do a small group activity and then hold group discussions and conversations. By listing all the events that the students did in the past five days on a piece of paper and listing down the emotions that coincided with those events, the students were able to clearly see what kinds of emotions dictated their lives and what can cause them. 

By being asked, ‘Do you find God’s presence through being aware of emotions?’ and ‘Do you use prayer to temper/tame/control your emotions?’ the students were able to analyze the magnitude by which emotions affect them and how they deal and cope with them. 

Sullivan was asked how he himself handles strong emotions such as sadness. His response was that he allows himself to feel sad. 

“When I allow Jesus to sit with me, that’s when I find myself,” Sullivan said. He articulated to having “a space to feel what I feel.” 

Victor Meschi, a sophomore in emergecy medical services and attendee of the event said that the small group talks were very helpful and he enjoyed being able to reflect with other students. 

Dealing with emotions, as Sullivan said, “can take a lot of unpacking and a lot of prayer,” but being able to understand the significance to all emotions like anger, fear, sadness, disgust and joy, it helps “recognizing the gifts you have.”