I am a huge fan of Brené Brown.

For those of you unfamiliar with her work, Brené is a research professor with a dry sense of humor and a wealth of emotional knowledge and tools. Because of her research-oriented background, the way she goes about understanding intangible and heavy concepts is delivered in an understandable and sensible way.

She is able to make the intangible, tangible and the abstract, clear and concrete.

I find her work to be incredibly vulnerable and relatable because she believes that by being vulnerable and daring greatly, we can tap into the intense power and opportunity that is ever-present and buzzing around us at all times.

In one of her recent books, she uses this quote: "denying you feel lonely makes no more sense than denying you feel hunger."

She goes on to say that "loneliness is a trigger that you're lonely and need connection just as hunger is a trigger for low blood pressure and thirst for needing water."

Woah.

At an intuitive and primal level, our bodies are capable of signifying to us what we need.

Only through years of social desensitization and mass amounts of external information pouring into our senses do we begin to neglect this primal feeling and begin to artificially understand what it is our bodies need.

No, your body does not need more unhealthy junk despite the fact that you might crave it. That junk is engineered for you to crave it.

We are also now wired to have our reward centers activated when we start to see likes and comments floating in on a recent social media post or we hear our phones ding when someone texts us.

At the most basic level, according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we need to feel a sense of belonging secondary to needing our basic needs met (food, water, shelter, etc...)

That's pretty awesome when you think about it. And I don't mean "awesome" in the way that it's overused in our present day.

I mean it's awesome in the sense that it's incredibly awe-inspiring that our bodies and minds are literally hardwired to fulfill the feeling of belonging.

We are capable of starving ourselves of our basic needs when we don't acknowledge the triggers that indicate we are lacking something.

When we don't eat, we are denying our basic need to eat and nourish ourselves.

When we deny our loneliness or our emotions, we are denying our basic need to belong.

For many of us, we can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely because we are still lacking connection. And what is belonging other than a way to connect?

If you've ever lived in a city by yourself and spent an unwanted, lonely night at home despite being surrounded by neighbors, then you know what it feels like to be immersed in buzzing chaos and people and still feel alone.

Merely surrounding yourself with physical bodies and things, does not solve the problem. Connection does.

Drowning out loneliness only makes you feel more alone.

The more we deny these inherent desires, the more they begin to run us and own us.

To better understand this, let's think of it this way: the more you put off eating lunch, the hungrier you get and then food becomes the only thing on your mind because your body is going into survival mode and makes damn sure that you don't forget what you have to do the second you get access to food.

The more you put off acknowledging your emotions, the more they will be on your mind and then from that, everything you do and how you approach and respond to others begins to reflect this.

When we feel insecure and continually deny that, we take everything personally, even down to that moment earlier when your coworking didn't see you behind them and they accidentally let the door close on you and you made up a story about how it was probably intentional and it's just "not your day." When, in reality, the door closing on you was an honest accident; nothing more, nothing less.

How we respond to others is a direct reflection of how we are responding to ourselves.

Maybe you know exactly what it is that you're suppressing. Maybe you're suppressing the fact that you feel left out or you don't fit in, you feel rejected, you feel unwanted, you feel like you're too much and not enough at the same time or maybe you feel that isolated loneliness.

Maybe you don't have any idea what you're suppressing but what you do know is that you feel funny, you're irritable, you can't sleep and your heart feels heavy.

If you're struggling with this, I (along with countless other people, celebrities, professionals, neighbors, Oprah, etc..) recommend meditation.

Sit with yourself in stillness for a few moments each day and let these thoughts come and then let them pass.

Notice what seems to surface first because maybe then, you'll notice what it is that you've been suppressing.

Brené Brown (and life) teaches us that when we deny our emotion, it owns us.

Our dogs teach us similar things.

When they need something, they tend to and make it known what basic needs they need to be met (ex: food, bathroom, belly scratches).

When they feel an urge to do something/anything, they go through with it; no matter if it's inside, outside, on the new white rug or on the patio instead of the grass.

What I mean by this is simple: dogs act on their natural instincts to do whatever it is they need to do. They bark when they want to be let out, they belly up to you and wag their tail when they're happy and want to be loved and they stick their tail in between their legs when they feel scared or sheepish.

No covering it up. No hiding. No denying.

If you take nothing else from this article then I hope you at least take this: next time you begin to feel your emotions owning you, think W.W.M.D.D (what would my dog do?)