The Crying Baby

 Any emotion, like the bell, can have a beautiful sound if we listen to it from beginning to end. 

Brother Freedom

Wanted to quickly relay what I have learned about the process of sitting with strong emotion like I experienced and wrote about yesterday.  You have heard this from me before.  Several different acronyms have been used to describe it.  Today I will use the R>E>A>L> acronym and the crying baby analogy, as I have done before as well. 

When we experience a strong emotion this is what we can do in a wholesome way:

• R: Recognize the emotion. Recognize it in your body and mind. How does it feel inside you? You can name it but do not get too caught up in the labelling or narrating of the experience.  Visualize it as recognizing the cry of your baby. Also recognize habit mind as it tries to pull you away from sitting with this emotion. 
• E. Embrace the emotion.  Instead of running from it ...instead of avoiding, supressing, numbing.  Pick the baby up and hold it in your arms. Be compassionate to Self and then be compassionate to the emotion you are holding.  Be willing to be with it.
• A: Accept the emotion, accept the experience even if it is painful.  Accept and allow the baby to express its needs
• L: Look deeply into the cause of this pain. Determine what is wrong and where the pain is coming from. Most of the time the suffering is derived from our resistance to what is. Determine what can be done, if anything, with it.  What can you do to stop the baby from crying?

After this ...if nothing can be done we accept it with serenity.  If something can be done we do it...we allow this experience to flow through us...transforming suffering into truth and freedom.  We change the baby's diaper and the baby becomes peaceful and content.  When we allow our suffering, without resisting it, when we embrace it and look deeply into it...the mind, like the baby, will  become calm and peaceful. 

Hmm! 

Something to think about.

All is well!

Deer Park Monastery/ Thay Ngo Khong (November, 2021) Practicing with Strong Emotions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4g_yEaE7D4