Turn your response on its head!
ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
We always carry a standard response to the emotions that arise in us. Whenever a pleasant emotion comes up, we try to grab it with both hands. When an unpleasant emotion arises, we fight it with all our strength. We try to gather as many pleasant emotions in our life as we can. We cannot tolerate anything that is negative.
In this technique, we are going to do the exact opposite! Let us try and fight with our positive emotions and welcome our negative emotions.
Understand, the problem is not with your emotions. It is with your response to them! It is your response which decides whether a certain situation or emotion is positive or negative. Whatever you accept is seen as positive, whatever you resist is seen as negative!
When you alter your responses, you realize that 'positive' and 'negative' are only labels that you are creating.
When you tune yourself to whatever the moment brings, you will see that there is no positive, no negative – there is only the natural flow of life.
DURATION: 21 minutes
Sit comfortably and close your eyes.
Bring up a memory that has emotional significance for you.
Usually, whenever you sit with yourself, you will see that it is the painful memories that always come up first!
When pain is there, what do you usually try to do? Escape it, naturally. If you cannot escape it, you try to suppress it. If that is also not possible, you start fighting with it.
This time, don't do any of these things
Simply welcome the emotion. Enter into the emotion totally.
No need to remember the person or situation which caused it. Just be with the emotion for a while. If there is pain, let it be. Close your eyes and meditate on. Don't resist. Enter it completely, willingly.
After a few moments, bring up a joyful memory.
Your mind will be relieved, it will want to cling to this memory.
Don't allow it!
Fight with this memory, try to throw it out of your inner space. Don't let your mind rest on it.
Repeat this with other emotional memories.
Each time, fight your natural instinct.
Just do the opposite of whatever the mind is saying.
Understand, you can use the mind to kill the mind!
When you repeat this process a few times, you find that your mind is no longer playing the old game. Whatever the emotion, you are able to remain centered. You are neither clinging to anything, nor resisting anything. You fall in tune with the flow of life.