Direct to the Emotion

Transcript

I’d like to talk to you about going directly to the feeling. A lot of time what happens with our emotions, and they have thoughts associated with them or impulses associated with them they have this sort of directionality. If you’re experiencing something like a frustration or anger there’s a source or external situation attached to that somehow trying to push you in that direction to want to be angry or experience lust or even if you experience devotion which is a very interesting emotional or spiritual experience.

What we can do in these situations or what I find we can do is to find out what happens if you do go inside in these moments, take a look not at the object of your emotion but the emotion itself.

We might ask these questions like where is it in the body if it is in the body? Perhaps it’s in our head but some situation going on where we are imagining or fantasizing or replaying some past event. Perhaps it’s in our hearts, perhaps its in several places at once which is also an option.

Several parts of us get activated when we experience strong emotions. What’s going on in our heart? Terror, anger, desire, craving, want, lack. Purity. Some form of pure emotion that lacks for nothing and wants for nothing.

In your solar plexus, what is there?

In your belly, in some other part of you perhaps there is some strong sensation. A lot of the time there is that really strong temptation to follow where those impulses lead. But lets direct our attention to the impulse itself and then to the emotion behind it. What happens?

What is there? I mentioned devotion. In an interview many years ago with my friend link he said to me: “Sometimes in the yoga tradition people will say these things, for example they will say don’t worry too much if you select the wrong guru because what you learn about being devoted to the guru is more important sometimes than what the guru will teach directly”

I don’t think it’s a blanket rule but it is interesting to think about. What is it if you focus on someone praying, if you wonder what goes on in their mind or what doesn’t to on, what kind of space there is. What happens? What is their internal experience?

What is our experience like when we focus on them?

Thank you for listening, thank you for exploring yourself, getting to know yourself and your interpersonal relationship is growing every day and deepening. You are your eternal companion.