states

How to deal with negative emotions

This is a short ode to the depth, simplicity and love that can arise when we learn how to manage negative emotional states. While negative emotions won’t ever stop arriving in our lives, we can practice shaping our mind into a more adaptable, flexible instrument to apprehend negative states and ultimately transmute them. This practice of dealing with negative emotions steers us in the direction of sustained emotional wellness, and we imprint our success here upon those nearest. So your dedicated personal work is actually helpful to all of us. What tools can we use to deal with negative emotions? Here you’ll learn and practice a short meditation, followed by a recipe for difficult moments, and some plant wisdom for balancing negative emotions.  Meditation is a vital practice and is the most important tool for dealing with and transforming negative emotions. As you read these words, begin by taking a few breaths to gather your attention, to return to the subtlest, steady presence within you.  Each time you notice a breath coming in, welcome a new connection to yourself, a refreshed touchpoint of care for yourself, within yourself. And each time you let the breath go, send a tender offering of your love out into the environment around you. Re-read and repeat this a few …

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States

Lately I’ve noticed that what we do is not nearly as  important as our state while we’re doing it. And what  we say is not nearly as important as our state while  we’re saying it. Your state is your position, your situation, your status,  your circumstances. Consider someone saying something when it’s decidedly not what they mean-difficult to watch. Our task as those who practice paying attention is to make sure that what we want to receive from others is the state we are cultivating within ourselves. Take the next 3 minutes to practice cultivating your state. Smile softly to yourself. Breathe from your belly up into your heart, all the way up to your head and exhale it back down. Notice if you have a thought, greet it, and return to your breathing. Repeat these few steps three or four times. Check out your state now. With this practice, we choose our state, and teach people how to treat us from there. If you’re in a state of doubt, folks will doubt you. If you’re in a state of calm, you’ll be met with relative ease. Try this attention-building exercise once a day – you’ll see results in every interaction.