Post by phosphor in What To Do While Sitting

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hi, i just found out about this site + challenge from your post on fedi!

i'm joining the challenge because it fits in with a habit i've been doing for the past couple weeks--i've been sitting and trying to be aware of my emotions, to try to process them somewhat.

it's kinda funny because several years ago, when i first tried to get into meditation i'd stopped because it was too hard to not get caught up in emotions, but now i'm using that exact same phenomenon to my advantage because honestly, setting aside time to Feel Things is really useful to me, since i end up using less energy trying not to Feel Things.

dozens2 years ago

Hey and welcome! Glad you decided to join us!

That's a good insight you had. The idea that meditation is about "not thinking" seems to be as pervasive as it is incorrect. And I think that emotions and feelings fall into that same bucket. It's much more, obviously, about just being aware and mindful of thoughts + feelings, and not letting them run amok and not getting swept up in them.

I've been playing around with the idea that thoughts and emotions are pretty much the same kind of "thought object". That most thoughts have some kind of emotion associated them, and nearly all emotions have some kind of thought associated with them. So the same kind of noticing and labeling and dismissing techniques that work (for me) for thoughts ought to work just as well for feelings.

Another technique that I have enjoyed using in the past to process feelings is the repetitive "How are you?", in which you notice a feeling and ask yourself the question. And it might turn out you're feeling rage. And then you ask yourself again, how are you? And you might discover you feel perfectly happy experiencing rage. Again, how are you? Maybe concerned about joyful rage? Okay, how are you? And you just keep peeling back the layers of the onion like that.

Anyway, you didn't ask for all of that. Sorry if it's not welcome. Excited that you decided to sit with us!!