Befriending...
While it very easy to want to resist or act out when we experience difficult emotions, such as anger, it is very important that we learn how to be with these emotions. Resisting and acting out on these difficult emotions, weโ€™ll find ourselves experiencing even more suffering. Instead of treating difficult emotions as enemies, we need to treat them as friends. Befriending, we open the door to our heart, invite the difficult emotion(s) in and listen to what they have to say. Sitting in an upright position, I began to focus on my breath. While I wasnโ€™t feeling angered per se at the beginning of this meditation, I have felt it a lot recently and so I decided to continue listening. Bringing to mind a time in which I felt angered, my shoulders and stomach began to have knots in them, my temples began to pound and my throat felt closed off. Visualizing this anger, I saw the color red fill those areas of discomfort. As the intensity of this fire grew, I almost couldnโ€™t go on because the heat was getting to be too hot. But, I was reminded of the power within me, which is my breath. Beginning to inhale some slow, smooth breaths from my belly, I was able to withstand the intensity of this fire burning inside of me. By allowing this fire to burn inside of me, I began listening to what it was trying to tell me. Receiving the deeper meaning behind it being here, the fire began to dampen. Befriending this emotion instead of resisting it, I felt a wave of freshness wash over me. Feeling my body, I realized that my shoulders and stomach were less tense, the pounding in my temples had dulled and my throat felt a little more opened. When I opened my eyes, I looked around in my surroundings and saw birds eating sunflower seeds. It was in that moment I thought to myself, All is Well. What we resist, persists. And, what persists, insists. Therefore, it is crucial that we befriend these difficult emotions and listen to what they have to say. Namaste ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿปโค๏ธโ˜ฎ๏ธ