RickyFitts

Letting go of anger can be really challenging, I know it's something I've really struggled with over the past few years. I think there's a lot of truth in the saying that holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die, I think there's often a part of us that feels like we're doing the other person a favour by letting go of the anger we feel towards them, like we're letting them off the hook. When the truth is that it really is something you do for your own wel!-being, first and foremost. It can be very challenging, though. What's helped me personally is to notice how the anger manifests in my body as a particular point of contraction, and to allow that inner tension to relax and breathe. Deeper feelings like grief and despair might also then arise, but these feelings just need to be felt and released, and then the surface anger also tends to diminish. It can take time though, these feelings can be very deep-rooted.

@Gianna So lovely.

That's funny, I was doing the same thing a few days back when I found myself chuntering away to myself about this or that person whilst I was meditating (not an uncommon occurence when I meditate ), my thoughts would often then circle back to a certain lovely female and then I'd feel much more loving and happy. Which was much, much nicer. I think it makes you much less vulnerable to psychic attacks when you feel more happy and at peace within yourself, too.

Really informative video yeah, thanks for sharing.

Are you familiar with the story of the Buddha's enlightenment under the bodhi tree? Because he was practising simple breath meditation, nothing more fancy than that apparently

@Gianna You're very welcome, really hope it's helpful.

I know this has been a significant and really challenging aspect of my spiritual journey, and I imagine it's something that's pretty common in spiritual communities generally, so I just wanted to share this video that I thought was very insightful in the hope that it might be helpful for others who are experiencing these sorts of energetic shifts:

@Preety_India Oh excellent! I know he's been a God-send for me personally, his teachings have helped me so much in the last few years.

Yeah, exactly - what we seek is eternally present, it's just a matter of perceiving clearly.

I like that, never heard that before! You're right, though, best not to put too much emphasis on the words. I like how Adya suggests to approach the whole question of enlightenment, he says that rather than asking, 'How do I become enlightened?', instead we should be asking ourselves, 'How do I UNenlighten myself?'

I think of it more in the way Adyashanti talks about enlightenment, he refers to it as the 'natural' state. Whereas human egoic consciousness is a bit fucked up, not to put too fine a point on it.

Ooh I like that a lot, thanks for sharing! What's amazing to me about the video (and this is going to be really random, so I apologise in advance ) is that I saw 'Pulp Fiction' advertised on one of the movie channels the other day, and it got me to wondering - Lord only knows why - what else I'd seen the guy in that video in (he's in the famous 'I dare you to say what again!' scene with Samuel L. Jackson), and wouldn't you know it, here he is in another film! So random.

Phil Foden too, he's some player (slightly sticks in my throat to say that, as a United fan). I'd say we've got about as good a chance as anyone, yeah, Gareth Southgate's done a great job.

Rashford wouldn't (or shouldn't, anyway) get into the England squad on current form, he's been awful. Maybe the new United manager will change his fortunes before the World Cup rolls around, I don't know.

This is what puts me off about psychedelics, you might see more obvious results much more quickly with them but I imagine it could take a long, long time for you to integrate the mental and energetic effects of it. The more gradual approach of practices like meditation might seem more arduous and slow, but I'd personally much rather go down that route, seems to me that it's much less destabilising and less fraught with complications in the long run. I get why psychedelics would appeal to people, particularly in our culture of instant gratification, but I think you've got to be so, so careful and responsible with them, seems like it could be a very slippery slope.

Just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year... oh man, that's the line that really devastates me...

@Gianna

That's so lovely... making me pine a bit...

@Gianna Great advice. Funnily enough, I was rereading 'The End of Your World' by Adyashanti the other day and he was making the point that it isn't so much about finding the right answers, as asking the right questions, and I think that's exactly right. I think a great question to ask yourself is simply, 'What's most important to me, what's my heart's desire?' And then, rather than trying to figure it out intellectually, you just listen - listen to what your heart's telling you. Because whilst we're very much thinking beings, we're really driven by our emotions, ultimately, and our thinking often clouds the reality of our feelings.

With thanks to ZenSwift, who shared this one elsewhere on the forum - I'm loving this piece of music