A Strategy for Emotions

Many people seek to be free from difficult emotions such as anger, fear, and grief, and seek the more pleasant emotions such as joy, happiness, and bliss. The usual strategy for achieving happiness involves either repressing or expressing negative emotions in the hope that they will be pushed from sight or released.

There is another possibility; find out what it is here:

Unfortunately, neither repressing nor expressing negative emotions reflects the truth of one’s inherent self, which is an unmoving purity of being that exists deeper than any emotion and remains unaffected by any emotion.

There are certainly times when it is appropriate to repress or express an emotion. But there is also another possibility: to neither repress nor express. Gangaji calls this “direct experience.”

To directly experience any emotion is to neither deny it nor to wallow in it, and this means that there can be no story about it. There can be no storyline about who it is happening to, why it is happening, why it should not be happening, who is responsible, or who is to blame.

In the midst of any emotion, so-called “negative” or “positive,” it is possible to discover what is at the core. The truth is that when you really experience any negative emotion, it disappears. And when you truly experience any positive emotion, it grows and is endless.

Read more: Spirit, Inspiration, emotions

Adapted from The Diamond in Your Pocket, by Gangaji (Sounds True, 2005). Copyright (c) 2005 by Gangaji. Reprinted by permission of Sounds True.
Adapted from The Diamond in Your Pocket, by Gangaji (Sounds True, 2005).

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Michele W.

11:34AM PDT on Jul 4, 2011

Thank you

send a green star

Robert O.

11:59AM PDT on Apr 30, 2011

Thanks.

KS G.

5:20AM PST on Dec 9, 2010

Thanks for the article.

Teresa W.

6:40AM PST on Nov 10, 2010

I've already commented on it and my opinion won't change.

Philippa P.

11:17PM PDT on Jul 5, 2010

SL L.

11:50PM PDT on Jul 3, 2010

great advice

7:24AM PDT on Jun 27, 2010

Thanks Annie!!

Claude C.

7:35AM PDT on Mar 20, 2010

I wish that "truly experiencing" had been better explained. The following two phrases seem to contradict each other: "There can be no storyline about who it is happening to, why it is happening, why it should not be happening, who is responsible, or who is to blame.

In the midst of any emotion, so-called “negative” or “positive,” it is possible to discover what is at the core.{

NICKY M.

2:01AM PST on Feb 21, 2010

Always suppressing emotions can be extremely dangerous for your physical and mental health. As the above article states, it is entirely possible to feel a negative emotion and even if it is momentarily unpleasant, it most likely won't kill you.... So just move on! Constantly repressing emotions will eventually force you in to a state of luke-warmness, where you eventually become emotionally DEAD! We, as human being were meant to experience life in all its fullness! we will never experience true joy, if there is a backlog of anger that is repressed! Of course, one is not meant to REACT to all emotions. I find, as I get older, I have experienced so much sadness; joy; grief and now have such a wealth of life experiences that, when someone does something that might have once made me angry, I now know where they are coming from and what they are most likely experiencing and with that understanding comes empathy. The more we understand people, the less likely we are to feel angry when they do not act as we want! Use your brains to try and see the other person's piont of view. As for grief and pain of loss... TRying to go into a self-induced sate of hynosis to try and transcend the feeling is one way... but only temprorary! I usually tend to try and experience the disgusting feeling and not be afraid of it... The brain is a funny thing. when it gets used to something it tucks it away and looks for new experiences! Search out happy people and keep busy and think what you can do for

10:53AM PST on Feb 8, 2010

Emotions should always be suppressed and never shown, even though it's very difficult to do.