New Meditation and What I Have Learned

At some point yesterday, I was inspired to do a new meditation. Meditation, as I was always lead to believe, had to do with noticing your thoughts and then letting them go. The inspiration was to feel the emotion and let it go. As I felt those emotions, I could see them as splotches of color or even "where" they were within the landscape of my mind. That landscape is much larger than the confines of my physical head.

I would feel the emotion and just let it float away. There was only one emotion that I had a hard time with. In a normal state of consciousness, I cannot remember which one. That is a big clue. Part of me doesn't want to get rid of that one.

The problem is that this meditation left me with so much energy that sleep was impossible. I did it too late in the day. I had to deal with some tough emotions last night but I realized something. I was just awake in the middle of the night with nothing to do.

The emotions I had to deal with were real. Primarily, I had to deal with them because I was so awake and there was nothing else to fill up my mind. Those emotions, while real, just filled up the void space left behind. They are the equivalent of an emotional monkey mind.

This information is vital.

I have been advised to go out and do things, see people, steal hubcaps or whatever else I find enjoyable. This is good advice. The thing is all of those things, while satisfying the human need for socialization, can also be an avoidance technique. The trick is to engage in those activities but allow oneself to feel and let go. This will allow very real and understandable emotions to be broken up.

Hardened emotions, from long past damage, can be the pain referenced below.

Things I have learned:

• When someone screws up and does damage to yourself or others, look for the pain that resides behind the action. This allows one to have greater compassion. 
• Protect yourself from said action first. Then act upon that compassion. The other way around does not work for the damage done will override that compassion.
• There are people that see symptoms and run. Others see uses and use. Some see what can be and wait. Still others can see the whole; The past, present and future exist all at once. Those that run are deprived. Those that use diminish the gift. Those that wait never participate. Those that experience the whole are blessed.