Make sense of emotions

Notice how emotions unfold in your life, how you react or respond to the world around you.   Notice where emotions come from.  Track them back to see how they arise.  Sense how, why they build up.  What do they teach you? What do they invite you to see within yourself?

Notice how you respond to others as they confront you, get emotional or remain indifferent toward you. Eleanor Roosevelt reminds you that nobody can intimidate you without your consent. If you do not choose to be afraid, then fear cannot touch you. The apparent reasons for fear cannot last unless you believe in them and allow them to control your thoughts.

Notice whether you allow your emotions to escalate and affect your health and well-being or, whether you observe quietly, respond slowly and calmly, to whatever unfolds in your life. What if its all a test? To respond without anxiety or agitation is to exhibit what peace is all about.  You help others to know peace as you respond from this state of being yourself.

Why is it do you figure that people often focus on negative emotions and complaints? It comes back to creating unskillful thought patterns. Each of us has a choice to be mindful and to understand the origins of our thoughts and emotions. If you are angry or afraid, ask why. Every emotion is a pointer to the only emotion heart knows- unconditional love.

Consider that you always have opportunities to respond differently to comments and behaviours than you are taught. Be aware of emotional triggers and conditioned habits that do not serve you.  Fear and anger flow away as you view them as the teachers they are. Be aware that peace is itself an emotion that empowers and inspires you, come what may.

"Everytime you allow someone to trigger a negative emotion or anger or ill will, you do not have to follow that path. Why do you get angry? Anger arises from a series of agitations you think about or dwell upon. Anger is like a fire. It starts like a spark. If you catch it quickly, its easy to put out.  Through your mindfulness, awarenss and mental training, it is not hard to transcend emotions like anger, frustration and grief.  Its not a training of will power, but of wisdom power to see where things come from so you can catch them earlier." -Ajahn Brahm

Be happy now

If you focus attention on the external world, and link your sense of happiness to that, you also set yourself up for potential disappointment.  For instance, if you tell yourself you will be happy when your conditions change, or when you obtain something that you are convinced you do not yet have, then you are distracting yourself from the happiness of being here in this moment. Allow yourself to see through the lens of love, and love is all you see. That is, expectations, judgments or other distractions no longer come into your scope. From the moment you are open and receptive to the flow of life, and stop analyzing, only happiness exists.

"Happiness never decreases by being shared." -Buddha

The significance of tattoos

At different stages of life, people get tattoos for different reasons .  Maybe you have some yourself that echo your own learning curve or act as memorials to loved ones.  Maybe you contemplate getting one to recognize a milestone, personal revelation or life change.  Maybe you know someone who has tattoos or have seen images of them on people you admire.  Even if tattoos do not appeal to you at all, your response to them reveals a lot about yourself.

Notice which tattoo symbols stop you in your tracks.  Which emotions do they elicit? What is this really telling you? Is it the prospect of permanence , a distubing fear or anger that surfaces?

Much like symbols in your night dreams, tattoo symbols that capture attention invite you to be aware of the nature of your judgment and the underlying reasons for it.  Notice whether you assume only 'certain kinds of people' get tattoos, whether tattoos evoke painful memories of suffering for you or whether they turn you off for other reasons you are not yet accepting. 

Notice also who you spend the most time with.  How you feel about tattoos is like an invitation to grow mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. You are better able to do so when surrounded by people who accept you for who you are and who support your evolving choices.

Anything that evokes emotion silently draws attention to love.  Sometimes getting tattoos is a call for love, a gesture of love, an effort to restore balance or to express love.  Even that which has little or no appeal to you echoes your state of mind and state of being.  Peace and tranquility are ever-present.  Everything you do or do not points toward them.  This goes without saying.

“Everyone has secrets. It's just a matter of finding out what they are.”  -Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

It is all you

Brace yourself.  How you view life is like a gauge for your expectations.  It all comes back to conditioning, that is, what you assume you can do (or not).  If you believe all is imposed by your entourage and role models, you temporarily forget that ever-present inner companion called the ego.  Imagine what happens as limitations dissolve and doubt falls away.

Watch what happens as you realize that your perceptions shape your expectations.  Watch how you feel about and experience abundance as you alter how you view the world.  Notice how shifting from mental images of scarcity to prosperity is merely a thought away.  Feel directly how changing your thoughts raises esteem, self-worth and all you allow self to see.

"When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." -Lao Tzu

Expect the best

As you experience stages of this journey called 'life,' you always have choices about how to respond to what you imagine is unfolding. Whether you expect the best or fear the worst, the mind invites you to imagine and create scenarios to reinforce your thoughts.

Take a few moments to ask some questions. Notice how you respond to people and events in your current focus of attention. What are the reactions of people in your life inviting you to notice about yourself? How is every event gently nudging you away from what you outgrow and toward what is dear to the heart? Which signs do you hear or ignore?

As you recall more details of your night dreams, notice what they reveal about your waking life. Everything is a message. Which lessons are you invited to recognize? How do you feel about them? What role do perceptions play in shaping your experience? What happens as you sense your current situation is actually a blessing in disguise?

From the moment you focus your thoughts and attention on how everything is serving your greater good, you also transform how and what you allow yourself to see.

"The best things in life are unexpected- because there were no expectations." -Eli Khamarov