By Sharon Salzberg — 2008
It takes strong insight and often a good deal of courage to break away from our habitual ways of looking at things, to be able to respond from a different place.
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Artistic people must learn how to emotionally guard themselves against the tides of negativity—both external and internal.
You must explore your inner-garden, your inner-landscape to see what core attitudes and beliefs you are holding that prevent you from tapping into your creative power.
In McLaren’s view, we typically perceive emotions as problems, which we then thoughtlessly express or repress. She advocates a more mindful approach, where we step back and see our emotions as sources of information.
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I don’t know what happened to emotions in this society. They are the least understood, most maligned, and most ridiculously over-analyzed aspects of human life.
Could there possibly be benefits to anger? According to psychologist and New York Times bestselling author Rick Hanson, Ph.D., you can certainly use anger as a force for good.
We can all get upset at times but there are healthy ways to express frustration and anger. It is important, especially for empaths and sensitive people to be aware of the difference between venting and dumping as the latter can beat down one’s positivity and self worth.
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Our world is in the midst of an emotional meltdown. People are restless, volatile, our tempers about to blow. Why is rage so rampant? What is the solution?
However painful our experiences may be, they are just painful experiences until we add the response of aversion or hatred. Only then does suffering arise.
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New research looks at how experiences can positively shift our self-perception.
Our mindfulness practice is not about vanquishing our thoughts. It’s about becoming aware of the process of thinking so that we are not in a trance—lost inside our thoughts.