Meditation: Embrace Flowing Emotions

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For those likewise caught up in the thick of it, here is an intention to set for your upcoming week:

1. Embrace flowing emotions : Although often misunderstood, meditation is not about suppression or becoming unfeeling. Let sensations and emotions arise as they will!

The key, however, is to not indulge them in ways that bring harm--to others or yourself. To do that:

2. Name them: Oftentimes, being swept up in the details of a situation causes us to fixate--to cling to the void sucking us in or the euphoria we wish would last, and to fail to locate the source of our pain and pleasure as being within us. It can help to take a step back by naming the emotions that arise: sadness, grief, anger, envy, disappointment, longing, joy, nostalgia, humor, relief.

Doing this allows us to take an honest appraisal of where we are at, and to see our mental states of being as part of a larger pattern of reactivity to external stressors. The more we recognize this /as/ the phenomena, the more we can set new patterns of pausing when we are swept up to breathe.

3. Throw them back!: Now that you've felt deeply and then observed it with some distance, it's time to let it fall again.

In some cases, especially in earlier meditation or if you've fallen out of practice, it can help to reflect on the ways that the emotions you feel might reflect the fires or hindrances- the factors that perpetuate suffering. Eventually, however, it does become easier to breathe them out, with the mind naturally quieting, and you become more adept at bringing yourself back to the present.

Try this out sometime this week, and feel free to comment here if you find it helpful, challenging, or whatever your experience might be 💕

Also: I am hopeful to start posting more regularly on my social media accounts again. It is my goal to help more people find their center.

Thanks again to everyone following - many wishes of peace for our very tormented world ☮️

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A. H. Spadafora is an author, freelancer, animal lover, and booknerd who lives in the Atlanta area with underused degrees and borrowed cats. She is currently working on multiple manuscripts and juggling gig work while seeking out the right full-time opportunity. ​Writing has remained the one constant throughout her life—a passion that has shaped her journey alongside the search for survival, purpose, and the chance to do good in the world. ​Published works include her debut poetry collection, Moments of Peace (2013) and her latest work, Eightfold.​ She is also the founder of Zen Chaos Writing, offering freelance services, books, and merchandise.

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