Living in Awareness – Day 10
So now, the Trinity of Life begins to look like this…
Thought… Pause… Feeling… Pause… Action
Once I was able to see this, I could see and have a greater understanding of how the mind was interpreting the situation at hand, and I could maneuver through the situation with much more grace and ease. As something occurred, I could see how the mind was moving, and why it was moving that specific way (because of the past experiences). I could also understand why I was feeling the way I was feeling. I began to understand why the mind was prompting me to do it the same way I had done it in the past. Like a bolt of lightening, I could then choose how I wanted to be, and respond accordingly. The key; however, was in understanding the feeling that I was experiencing. It was also not only understanding the feeling, but not sugar coating it, and honoring it for what it was, at its base, fundamentally.
Feelings versus Emotions
Until I began to use the Trinity of Life, I wasted a tremendous amount of time on what I came to find out were emotions. I began to understand that an emotion was nothing more than the mind’s interpretation of a fundamental or a base feeling (FLASH). Yes, in the early years of my journey of self exploration, I knew I had to honor my feelings if I wanted any liberation from them. However, I would spend and waste valuable time on the emotion rather than going directly to the base feeling that was creating the emotion. As a feeling would arise, I would ask myself what I was feeling. At any given point, it could be worry, concern, agitation, frustration, pity, or any other emotion or label the mind could come up with. The list could go on and on. I would do my best to honor what I was feeling, but in most cases, I would get caught in the interpretation, or intensity, rather than dealing with the root. Once, my teacher shared with me that there were only five feelings: Fear, Love, Anger, Sadness, or Happiness (FLASH), and advised me not to get into the judgment, or interpretation of what I was experiencing, things became much easier. He asked me to go straight to the source, or the root of what I was feeling. I often would have to go down the list. Was I feeling fear? Love? Anger? Sadness? Or Happiness? Once I did that, then I could honor and accept what was happening inside of me. Once I understood what I was feeling, I could also understand what I was wanting relating to that specific situation.
