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lalow33

USA
966 Posts

Posted - Sep 10 2013 :  1:31:59 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Message
Hi all,

I'm newer here, and a bit confused about working with emotional energy. I see others doing practices that seem to be working with emotions in a different way. Does anyone direct their emotions towards their Ishta? Is this helpful? When emotions come up do I release them in stillness? Direct them toward my Ishta? Just be present? Watch them like a cloud floating by?

cosmic

USA
821 Posts

Posted - Sep 10 2013 :  3:22:32 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
My only suggestion would be to allow all emotions unconditionally. If you have the habit of suppressing uncomfortable emotions (as many people do, including myself), allowing the emotions will really open you up. This will give you a greater sense of self-acceptance.

Namaste

cosmic
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lalow33

USA
966 Posts

Posted - Sep 12 2013 :  07:59:56 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
cosmic,

Yes, I do suppress emotions. Maybe with increasing silence, the answer will come to me.
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mr_anderson

USA
734 Posts

Posted - Sep 12 2013 :  08:52:04 AM  Show Profile  Visit mr_anderson's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi Lalow,

The answer to this one is to follow your heart to find the best way/practice for dealing with your emotions. The Presence Process is an excellent practice for dealing with repressed emotional energy, and emotions that seem to consistently arise and cause us to act out unconscious patterns in our relationships with loved ones, and the world at large.

Alternatively with twice daily Deep Meditation as a permanent, regular habit, it's certain that one will be getting generally calmer and happier. But depending on where you are coming from, this may not always be the sole practice you wish to have for emotions. For many of us, the emotional energy, manifesting as anger, depression, hurt and so on, can be very intense, and cause us to completely lose ourselves, spiraling into unconscious behavioral patterns, or seemingly becoming lost in our thought streams.

For many of us, our spiritual ideals, and the emotional reality of our day to day life, have a pretty large gap. This is certainly how it was for me when I started out on this path. I can't claim to be perfect, but in current experience emotions do now tend to pass through my experience, quickly and cleanly, like clouds in the sky. They don't leave any residue after they pass, and there's minimal or no resistance to them when they arise.

It used to be quite the opposite, and I was deeply emotionally unbalanced suffering from constant emotional reactivity to life. For the practical changes in my life, I can thank regular twice daily meditation, for 4 years, either in the form of AYP, or consciously connected breathing in the style of The Presence Process.

One thing's for certain: if you're regularly doing practices, identification with emotions will be decreasing, you'll find there's a greater, growing awareness, and more of an ability to easily let things go.

My ishta is Truth: The Truth of What I Am - timeless, formless, unbound awareness. So when in the grip of very intense emotions, I sit completely still, I place my hands into prayer mudra, I breathe calmly, I repeat a mental statement to stop myself becoming lost in identification with thought streams about the external event, and I just peacefully stay with what is happening, remembering that I am the awareness within which this is all arising. This is my personal method for ishta redirection. In this way, all emotions are transmuted into a clear-seeing, understanding and letting go of negative emotional reactions to life.

That's just what works best for me, each must find his or her own way.

Love,

Josh

Edited by - mr_anderson on Sep 12 2013 08:53:17 AM
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Anima

484 Posts

Posted - Sep 13 2013 :  9:33:36 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks everyone. I am upset at my having seen my mom and sister at an AA meeting tonight since they have abused me for many years, and I had to flee the situation a month ago. I am living in my car and work full time, but do not feel attached to anything. Its very strange but very familiar and beautiful, but also lonely.

An AA friend called me and I told him Im upset, why, that Im processing and okay with that. He disagreed and predicted my future, told me what I should not do and should not feel, etc. He was a medical doctor. Are people really so dumb? There is no sense in thinking at the dark.

Anyway, I cannot tie back my nature. That was killing me. Now I am so alive! But I fear I may fly off the earth.
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_shakti_

Canada
48 Posts

Posted - Sep 14 2013 :  04:27:12 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Is it possible that you 'do not feel attached to anything' because you are in denial about your true feelings and don't want to deal with the deep pain that is locked inside?

That tends to be a pattern with those who have used self-medication as a means of escaping reality. It sounds to me that your AA friend is trying to help prevent a possible relapse. He could be wrong, but wouldn't he be remiss as a friend if he didn't tell the truth and try to 'predict the future' as you say? That's what AA connections are for, no? Support for when things get tough. And they do sound tough right now..

It sounds to me like he triggered you.. you could view that as an annoyance and back away. Making it all the more easy to reach for whatever your substance of choice is the next time things get overwhelming, or.. you could search inside as to what it triggered, work it through and learn from it. Just my opinion 'n all.


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Anima

484 Posts

Posted - Sep 14 2013 :  08:06:58 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi Shakti, and thank you.

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lalow33

USA
966 Posts

Posted - Sep 16 2013 :  09:49:05 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
quote:
Originally posted by mr_anderson

Hi Lalow,

The answer to this one is to follow your heart to find the best way/practice for dealing with your emotions. The Presence Process is an excellent practice for dealing with repressed emotional energy, and emotions that seem to consistently arise and cause us to act out unconscious patterns in our relationships with loved ones, and the world at large.

Alternatively with twice daily Deep Meditation as a permanent, regular habit, it's certain that one will be getting generally calmer and happier. But depending on where you are coming from, this may not always be the sole practice you wish to have for emotions. For many of us, the emotional energy, manifesting as anger, depression, hurt and so on, can be very intense, and cause us to completely lose ourselves, spiraling into unconscious behavioral patterns, or seemingly becoming lost in our thought streams.

For many of us, our spiritual ideals, and the emotional reality of our day to day life, have a pretty large gap. This is certainly how it was for me when I started out on this path. I can't claim to be perfect, but in current experience emotions do now tend to pass through my experience, quickly and cleanly, like clouds in the sky. They don't leave any residue after they pass, and there's minimal or no resistance to them when they arise.

It used to be quite the opposite, and I was deeply emotionally unbalanced suffering from constant emotional reactivity to life. For the practical changes in my life, I can thank regular twice daily meditation, for 4 years, either in the form of AYP, or consciously connected breathing in the style of The Presence Process.

One thing's for certain: if you're regularly doing practices, identification with emotions will be decreasing, you'll find there's a greater, growing awareness, and more of an ability to easily let things go.

My ishta is Truth: The Truth of What I Am - timeless, formless, unbound awareness. So when in the grip of very intense emotions, I sit completely still, I place my hands into prayer mudra, I breathe calmly, I repeat a mental statement to stop myself becoming lost in identification with thought streams about the external event, and I just peacefully stay with what is happening, remembering that I am the awareness within which this is all arising. This is my personal method for ishta redirection. In this way, all emotions are transmuted into a clear-seeing, understanding and letting go of negative emotional reactions to life.

That's just what works best for me, each must find his or her own way.

Love,

Josh



Yes, the heart doesn't get confused only the mind. Thanks for pointing the finger back at me.
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Radharani

USA
843 Posts

Posted - Oct 09 2013 :  05:32:49 AM  Show Profile  Visit Radharani's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Dear lalow33,

Whatever works for you! and it may vary according to the mood you are in and the circumstances.

I find that directing emotional energy to my Ishta, especially in very intense/difficult circumstances, works really well. Most of the time, though, these days I'm just kind of being present/ witnessing it all flow by. But when something comes up that is more challenging or overwhelming, I just throw myself at His feet. As Josh said, follow your heart.
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rothandy

India
5 Posts

Posted - Nov 20 2014 :  06:49:36 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Extreme emotion does induce the body to release hormones which affect energy level.
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Ankacitah

Romania
8 Posts

Posted - May 18 2015 :  01:56:00 AM  Show Profile  Visit Ankacitah's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
my advise is to not suppress your emotions, but observe them.
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Jim and His Karma

2111 Posts

Posted - Jun 29 2015 :  4:34:14 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
The car's engine may roar, that's not under your control. What is your choice is whether to put it in gear - to let that particular force propel you forward.

Don't confuse what is and what isn't a matter of your choice. Sadness/rage/envy, etc all happen, and will never stop happening. You may choose to identify with them, and let them control your behavior for a while, or just amiably and playfully notice them as they arise. If you take that second choice, you'll observe that they never last for more than a moment (they're as fleeting as any other thought)....unless you want them to last longer.

Most human beings unconsciously really really want them to last and last and last (which is why they seem to linger for so long). We suck them like lozenges.

Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Jun 29 2015 4:34:54 PM
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