Emotional Meditation

When I first came to this temple I had reached a point where I was able to effectively suppress most emotions that I didn't wish to experience. This sometimes made me seem cold and uncaring to those who knew me well but I would argue that I could more effectively support others if I had no emotional attachment. Since then I have come to understand that rather than a crux, emotion is essential to fully appreciate this life and to be better able to support others through empathy. There is a big difference between having emotional control and suppression.

One of the ways I learnt this was to meditate on those emotions I had previously thought of as bad. For example, sadness: I would fully focus on a real or imaginary sad event in my life. I would let the emotion consume me to the point of tears and then begin to explore why I felt this way. It can be quite a ride but I think it can also be a very effective training tool.

Has anyone else used this or other methods to explore their emotions and would you agree it can be beneficial?

Psyddhattha wrote: When I first came to this temple I had reached a point where I was able to effectively suppress most emotions that I didn't wish to experience. This sometimes made me seem cold and uncaring to those who knew me well..

I was like this too, a friend of mine told me that I seemed indifferent towards people.

While I think it can be beneficial sometimes to look back at emotional times and evaluate the feelings, and I have done before, I think sometimes it can prevent you from moving on from those emotions. If you keep going back to it, how can you move on from it?

Yep, if you can exercise various emotional states, by creating them and removing them at will or going from one end of the spectrum to the other and back again, then you might be better able to shape unsolicited/unwanted emotions when they pop up (if needed).

I found that while I might be better able to handle them, it also might have increased the range and therefore intensity of the extremes
:pinch:

From my IP Journal on the meditation lesson (13 Jun 2012)

Proteus wrote: Gathering Emotion
Pick an emotion you want to use and focus on that emotion. Evoke it by a thought, or a series of thoughts and once you've evoked this thought or thoughts, catch the emotion that it gives you and lock yourself into, observing that emotion. You can give yourself control of "turning up the volume" on the emotion, which is letting that emotion become larger and deeper. You may find yourself smiling very very wide, or maybe you might begin to cry, or maybe you might feel a deep bitterness about something (I personally don't keep negative feelings out of the mix as it lets me surface emotional pain I might have, to acknowledge and let myself let go of them through this process). The ultimate idea is capturing one emotion this way, and then capturing another emotion and combining them together, and then another and another and finally combining them all with you. This becomes a deep and ultimate state of mind that can bring out feelings and motivational powers within that you never thought existed.

http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/47-Journals/48369-the-book-of-proteus?start=20#63724

Psyddhattha wrote: Has anyone else used this or other methods to explore their emotions and would you agree it can be beneficial?

This is actually how I process most intense emotion. Unlike most people, who want something happy to take their mind off the sadness or anger, I kind of dive deeper into it. It's almost as if others tread water, and I swim to the bottom to pull the plug. I learned a long time ago that is best for me, personally, so I try to do it as often as I need to stay balanced, and to remember that emotions aren't bad--it's what we do with them that makes our lives difficult.

I have yet to delve very far into meditation but everything I've read on this thread seems very interesting. I like the idea of feeling the emotions deeper to understand them as opposed to just shutting them down.

I was honestly a little worried when I first started research into Jediism that it would require me to remove emotions altogether. I like the idea of control more than not having them.

Psyddhattha wrote: When I first came to this temple I had reached a point where I was able to effectively suppress most emotions that I didn't wish to experience. This sometimes made me seem cold and uncaring to those who knew me well but I would argue that I could more effectively support others if I had no emotional attachment. Since then I have come to understand that rather than a crux, emotion is essential to fully appreciate this life and to be better able to support others through empathy. There is a big difference between having emotional control and suppression.

One of the ways I learnt this was to meditate on those emotions I had previously thought of as bad. For example, sadness: I would fully focus on a real or imaginary sad event in my life. I would let the emotion consume me to the point of tears and then begin to explore why I felt this way. It can be quite a ride but I think it can also be a very effective training tool.

Has anyone else used this or other methods to explore their emotions and would you agree it can be beneficial?

I think you are very fortunate to have discovered this. Congrats!

I've used the meditative state to acknowledge obsesive and extreem/strong emotional states. It's kind of like opening the windows and letting the wind blow in and disperse all the old air out of the house. For me anyway it can take a lot of time or sessions for the water to clear.