The Energy to Awaken: Controlling Negative Emotions and Identification
From our friend Astha in the Toronto Center
Weekly Topic
The Energy to Awaken: Controlling Negative Emotions and Identification
When we express negative emotions we succumb to a mechanical habit that leaks vital energy. This energy is often too powerful to resist and work with once we are identified and the negative emotion takes hold. If we wait until they arise, it is too late and the explosive energy irresistibly seeks expression and leaks out through words or actions. Identification keeps us stuck in certain attitudes that support and reinforce the pathway to expressing negative emotions.
At the same time, we need to approach this with objectivity and no judgment when we fail to transform the expression of negative emotions. This energy is neither good nor bad, but it is the energy required to awaken that we habitually waste through expressing it rather than transforming and refining it. Awakening is the process of refining the fuel of negative emotions and mechanicality. Conscious transformation of negative emotions is one of the crowning achievements of inner work.
Weekly Exercise
Each morning in a quiet moment, reflect on and anticipate circumstances that predictably evoke negative emotions in your machine. Start with something small and choose one that is specific and clearly defined. Be watchful and observe yourself, try to separate from the inner voice that tempts you to express it and do not be judgmental. Keep in mind that you are the observer, separate from the mind and the body.
When negative ‘I’s pass, we are grateful that we did not express them. ─ The Teacher
Virgin and Child with Four Angels, Gerard David
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