Baby, It's Windy Outside

What if, every single time we felt a stiff wind, we just "went with it" and allowed ourselves to jump into a colossal face plant? What if, when we felt a breeze, we started running in its direction, regardless of where we were initially headed?

It wouldn't make much sense, we'd look like fools, and we'd have a difficult time getting anywhere:
BOOM. Splat. Oh, look at her running by - must be a stiff breeze. Pure silliness?

Negative mental states and emotions are just like the wind in this example. Sometimes they're strong and carry more force, sometimes subtle. But, they're always impermanent. They always go. How fast they 'go' depends a lot of the time upon how hard we attach to them. If I get angry over something, and I "stew in my anger" (have you ever visualized yourself sitting in a pot of anger, cooking?), the anger will stay and color everything I do. One of my teachers calls it "wearing anger glasses" - everything we see and come into contact with is then colored by that emotion.

While we would never act outwardly in the way mentioned in the first paragraph, we do this all the time with our minds.

Have you ever done a face plant? Smarts, doesn't it? One step down and then BOOM. But the colossality (is that a word?) of that kind of fall is nothing compared to some of the after effects of anger.

I think maybe when we really do dive into the emotional turmoil of our minds - when we become completely absorbed in negative emotions - steeped or stewed in them - the effect (upon us and those around us) is just as extreme, and often just as painful. Like ice-skating with friends and holding hands, when one falls, pretty soon everyone is on the ground. Bruises heal and bones knit pretty quickly. Relationships and friendships take time - and may never heal completely.

When these negative emotions come up, they are often difficult to let go. It's like herding cats - you get a few going in the direction you need, and one sprints off after who knows what. But it's not an impossible task... with practice. And practice. And practice.

Here's to fruitful practice for us all.