Question: “I need help. Since I’ve began my spiritual journey, my period, which usually tends to throw my emotions out of whack for it’s duration, as well as cause me extreme physical pain has gotten better with time. However, it’s upon me once again while only one day, I feel like I’m forgetting everything I’ve learnt with regards to letting my emotions flow. Im finding myself victim to frustration, anger and selfishness. Should I be concerned that I’m ‘regressing’ or should I leave it be?”
Being angry and knowing that we’re angry are two different things. One takes control of us, the other we take control of it. Naturally we tend to let anger take control of us. We let it control our situations and circumstances, and allow it to take hold of our moods and emotions. It then shapes the rest of our day, sometimes several days or even weeks.
But. As a mindful being, we must diligently and continuously cultivate our practice of mindfulness. Sometimes we get angry at ourselves for getting angry at something or someone else, so we have anger on top of anger. As a practicing mindful being, we take that anger into the palm of our hand shine the light of mindfulness and love on it, and let it run its course.
Essentially we want to cultivate the practice of self-reminders, self-assessment, and self-grounding. What on earth am I talking about, you say?! Basically whenever a negative feeling or emotion arises, anger for example, all we want to make sure we do is realize that we know we are angry. We can allow ourselves to be angry for a hot minute, but essentially we want to be mindful of our anger as quickly as possible. That way when those feeling arises, we can immediately stop ourselves, take a few deep breaths, assess the feeling and situation, and take lead of the situation with understanding and compassion.
So don’t think of it as regressing or leaving it be. We only regress when we give up, and it doesn’t sound like you’ve given up or want to leave it be. So take those moments of anger and selfishness, hold them in your hand, and crush them like bubble wrap!
Smile and be well!