On Emotion

I get over things quickly. I can change my mind in the time it takes for a door to close, that is as long as I'm not driven by emotion. My friend Tim is always bringing up that point--that people are wound up and controlled by their emotions. For a while I was resistant to this notion because I contended that we are here to feel. But I see now that his point was that we're here to experience and what we learn from that is the real stuff--that's what shapes us. We can't always trust our emotion as a guide because it's wound tightly to ego. Essentially what we think we want isn't always what's best for us. So now I'm learning to trust that the right things are happening. When you think like this, disappointment doesn't have such a hold. Yes, you'll still experience and feel the lot of life--everything from anger to melancholy to joy, but you also learn to let things flow, to not get too hung up in a state of wondering "why me." In this sense, everything you face is a kind of gift: to be more aware, to be stronger. To live by emotion is to miss the forest for the trees because it clouds the mind from the bigger picture. I see now that instead of being so attached and fighting things I need to absorb them, learn from them, and let them go. Sounds like a peaceful way of being. Thanks Tim.