As Sharon writes for today, “we take a deeper look at some of the common emotional states that tend to arise in meditation. When we look closer at an emotion such as anger, and in doing so, see that it is actually made up of many different component parts: there are moments of sadness, moments of frustration, or moments of helplessness. So we pay attention to these states not to vanquish them, but to pay attention in a deeper way, a more full way – and by bringing our attention to the emotion we can see the whole range of what’s arising and passing away. Mindfulness meditation doesn’t eliminate difficult feelings or prolong pleasant ones, but it helps us accept them as passing and impermanent.”
I experienced the various moments in my afternoon meditation. It arose in my mind as anger toward a former colleague. And, just like Sharon shares with us, yet there were moments of disbelief, moments of feeling unappreciated, moments of resentment, moments of relief, and moments of sadness. I could experience it all and in my chest, my eyes, my heart, even my breath changed during this mindful process.
The practice of mindfulness can assist us in feeling these difficult emotions more fully. In this we can have a greater well-being. How interesting that in the Awakening Joy class I facilitated just prior to my meditation, I shared not only our topic of Mindfulness but also ways to work with difficult emotions. On top of that, the Mindfulness class I will be teaching at 5:30 pm today will also be Working with Emotions.
No accidents here, my friends.
Recommended reading for Week Three of the Challenge is pages 112 – 122 and pages 137– 144 in the second edition of the book, “Real Happiness”.
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