Sometimes I think it's not so much feeling the feelings themselves, but the act of not becoming overwhelmed by them.

It's possible that you were inundated by feelings when you were little. You might not have been emotionally equipped to deal with them. The risk of being sucked under by them may have been too great.

As a result, you just decided not to feel. It is easier and safer than risk being obliterated.

However, if those emotions are, in fact, there, and you can access them without going under, then that may make it safe to feel again.

Just my opinion on the emphasis on feeling everything in therapy.