And Now…the Strings
er, I mean…and now the joy..
As noted in older posts derived from yogi philosophy; I am not my body, I have a body but I am not my body. I am not my emotions, I have emotions but I am not my emotions.
Best science of the day notes emotions are highly functional and serve to deliver information designed to help us navigate our lives (paraphrase-Henry Stapp, Mind and Quantum Mechanics.
With this understanding you and I may learn to take the witness position in relation to our emotions. As we ‘witness’ goosebumps for example, we are inspired to put on a sweater. As we ‘witness’ lonliness we might go online and seek out a local book club. As we witness sadness, we might have a good cry and process disappointment.
From the witness position we can 1) consciously redefine our relationship to our emotions and 2) ‘conduct’ them quite like the conductor of an orchestra conducts the coordinated activity of the musicians, cueing first the violins, then the pianist and then the brass.
To learn to conduct your emotions perform the following exercise daily:
Make a list of emotions ie; happy, sad, dread, annoyed, embarassed, angry, etc.
Arbitrarily, select one ie; embarassed,
Tap a stored memory of a moment you were embarassed,
Close your eyes, bring the memory up, see it in your minds’eye,
As your recreate the moment tapping your imaginative abilities, note the feeling,
Hold that feeling; taste it, is your face flushed? Do you gulp?
You have conjured into being ‘embarassment’ in your body.
Open your eyes, consult your list of emotions, select another one ie; sad.
Tap a stored memory of a moment you were sad.
Close your eyes, bring the memory up, see it in your minds’ eye,
As you recreate the moment tapping your imaginative abilities, note the feeling,
Hold that feeling; are you near tears, are you sniffling?
You have conjured into being ‘sad’ in your body,
Open your eyes, consult your list of emotions, select another one ie; mad,
Tap a stored memory of a moment you were mad,
Close your eyes, bring the memory up, see it in your minds’ eye,
As you recreate the feeling, tapping your imaginative abilities, note the feeling,
Hold that feeling; taste it, are you clenching your jaw? Are you ‘tight?’
You have conjured into being mad in your body.
Open your eyes, have a nice day.
You have learned a lot about the ebb and flow of your emotional life. As you take note of the emotions, as witness to them, you are not overwhelmed by them. They can be manufactured consciously by you. They typically arise within you unconsciously, often much to your own surprise.
As you get to better know the ebb and flow of your own emotional life you may better manage them. You may shorten the duration of negative emotions and lengthen the duration of positive emotions.