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Our
feelings play a very important part in directing all of our
thoughts and actions. In us, there is a river of
feelings, in which every drop of water is a different
feeling, and each feeling relies on all the others for its
existence. To observe it, we just sit on the bank of
the river and identify each feeling as it surfaces, flows
by, and disappears.
There
are three sorts of feelings-- pleasant, unpleasant, and
neutral. When we have an unpleasant feeling, we may
want to chase it away. But it is more effective to
return to our conscious breathing and just observe it,
identifying it silently to ourselves: "Breathing
in, I know there is an unpleasant feeling in me.
Breathing out, I know there is an unpleasant feeling in
me." Calling a feeling by its name, such as
"anger," "sorrow," "joy," or
"happiness," helps us identify it clearly and
recognize it more deeply.
We
can use our breathing to be in contact with out feelings and
accept them. If our breathing is light and calm--a
natural result of conscious breathing-- our mind and body
will slowly become light, calm, and clear, and our feelings
also.
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Mindful observation is based on the principle of
"non-duality": our feeling is not separate
from us or caused merely by something outside us; our
feeling is us, and for the moment we are that
feeling.
We are neither drowned in nor terrorized by
the feeling, nor do we reject it. Our attitude of not
clinging to or rejecting our feelings is the attitude of
letting go, an important part of meditation practice.
If
we face our unpleasant feelings with care, affection, and
nonviolence, we can transform them into the kind of energy
that is healthy and has the capacity to nourish us. By
the work of mindful observation, our unpleasant feelings can
illuminate so much for us, offering us insight and
understanding into ourselves and society.
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