jan24

We think we have problems, but what we really have are feelings. Feelings and their accompanying interpretations/projections/thoughts around the supposed causes of those feelings.

"I feel sad. I don't want to feel sad, but I don't know how to make the feeling go away. I think I feel sad because of x. I will go out into the world and try to find people, things and/or situations to make the feeling go away." This does not work. People, things and situations can only distract us from our feelings, not alleviate them. This is how problems are created out of feelings.

The solution is just to feel sad. Feel the sadness, feel it completely, without any judgment or resistance, and it dissolves on its own. It is not a problem, it is a feeling.

Loneliness isn't a problem, it's a feeling. Anger isn't a problem, it's a feeling. Grief isn't a problem, it's a feeling. Fear isn't a problem, it's a feeling.

So many problems and utter wastages of time/energy are gathered in the attempts to pass off/throw out/project our feelings and have other people, things and situations deal with them for us/distract us from them. When the solution is simple and direct - just feel it! Just feel and feel and feel it, and eventually it will run its course. It may take a while to get through completely since in all likelihood they've been accumulating for years, but thankfully they can still be processed faster than they accumulated.

The feelings are caused in the first place by ego-identification and the accompanying interpretations. "Because I am identified with my self-concept/sense of separateness and I don't have another separate person attached to/validating it, I feel loneliness". "Because I am identified with my self-concept/sense of separateness and someone didn't treat it the way it's been conditioned to want/expect, I feel anger". "Because I am identified with my self-concept/sense of separateness and I don't have whatever fleeting desire has crossed my mind, I feel sadness". This is how feelings go on accumulating throughout a lifetime and piling up until we either explode, implode, whither or collapse.

Once feelings are seen for what they are (emotional energies resulting from egoic identification), and the apparent causes are seen for what they really are (externalized projections) and full responsibility is taken on to feel/process/release/transform the emotional energies internally rather than externalizing them/making other people/things/situations responsible for them, life becomes simple. Nothing much needs to be done anymore. For the most part one feels contented, at ease and at home within oneself regardless of the external circumstances, so everything external starts to feel optional. People, things and situations can come and go as they please, and either way I'll be good. Either way I'll be enjoying simply being within myself and whatever is available at the moment, since I'm no longer filled with the inner turmoil of repressed emotions + their accompanying thoughts/projections and am no longer expecting people, things or situations to alleviate or distract from them.

That's where things seem to be headed at least, since I can't say I'm fully there. But I'm onto your tricks now, mind! Your days are numbered...