Rodney is a great Dharma teacher. . . here is a little taste…
This week’s reading is by Rodney Smith, on “Meditation and Dealing with Difficult Emotions.” The full text is available here. The introductory paragraph follows:
Many of us remain ambiguous and unsettled with our emotions. We simply do not trust them. We believe we have to maintain tension and restraint for fear the emotions will get out of hand and drive us toward destructive behavior. Emotions seem to say something personal about us. To be angry means, “I am an angry person;” when despair arises, “I’m sliding back to my earlier days of depression.” We have a strong tendency to project and deny emotions, to ward off the personal implications, and to keep them safely “out there” rather than “in here.” We do this by pointing fingers and blaming, “You make me angry.” This logic implies the problem would correct itself by getting rid of you (dismissal, murder, war) rather than taking responsibility and working…
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