Mastering Mind and Emotions

"The only way to ease our pain is to experience it fully. Learn to stay with uneasiness, learn to stay with the tightening, so that the habitual chain reaction doesn't continue to rule your life." – Pema Chodron

When we are overcome with anxiety, depression, anger, lust or even joyful excitement, we can begin to understand that we are under the sway of our thoughts and emotions.  A panic attack or an episode of depression can actually be recognized as a call to awakening.  Our emotions both pleasurable and painful can be utilized as a means of developing a deeper awareness.  Instead of trying to avoid certain feelings and seeking others, we can learn to be present as a witness.  We can move in the direction of awareness.

Ordinarily we go along thinking that the world is as we think it is and that we are as we think we are.  It can be upsetting to challenge our core beliefs about our world and ourselves.  A crisis though, can bring forth some of our subconscious conditioning and enable us to release it.  There is a spiritual saying that ordinary people pray that they avoid catastrophes in their lives while a saint prays that she may be able to face all of them.  Spiritual development, just like psychological development, requires that we undergo crises as we transition between stages. 

The medical model of psychotherapy tends to medicate away the uncomfortable emotional symptoms of possible spiritual development.  Many clients complain of a general numbing effect on their emotions.  Mindfulness offers a different approach.  Instead of avoiding distressing thoughts and emotions, we learn to observe them.  Instead of following the chain reaction of stimulus-response we learn to sit put, observe and let go.  The main key is – don’t buy in, don’t take the bait.  Instead be aware of how you get sucked into negative thoughts and emotions.  Then make a conscious effort to develop more positive thoughts and emotions.  Reading spiritual books can actually be very helpful as long as you remember to put those words into practice.

Ultimately, and most importantly, we need to realize that we are not our thoughts or emotions.  We are not our minds or our bodies.  We are beings of consciousness, i.e. spiritual beings.  We are beings of love.  Love is much more than our ordinary emotions.  It is the presence of God, Self, True Being within us.  The only antithesis of love is our resistance to it.