Into each life a little RAIN must fall

Reading a new book is always such an eye-opener. New ideas, new thoughts appear as if they are sent "just for me". Even though I know that they are not meant "just for me", there is some form of an "ah ha" moment when you read something that hits your heart and you actually "hear" it. So it was for me while reading this book being studied by my Women's Group right now called "Awakening Joy". Here is what I "heard":

RAIN

Recognize what you are feeling and name it. Anger, fear, sadness, confusion?

Allow the feelings to be present, without pushing them away and without getting lost in them.

Investigate the feelings in your body and mind. Explore the landscape of the emotion with curiosity and interest. Where in your body do you feel it? How does it feel in your mind---heavy, tight, open, agitated?

Non-identification is the key to freeing yourself from the emotion's grip. Don't take it personally. What you are feeling is a human emotion that arises and passes away. It does not define who you are.

So...this little paragraph says it all doesn't it? This idea of "non-identification" seems to be the key. Don't take it personally!!...It does not define who you are. WOW! Instead of thinking "what is wrong with me...what did I do? here is a new way to look at this. I have been feeling anger, fear, sadness and confusion but now I can allow these feelings to just be present and not take it personally. There doesn't have to be something wrong with me! After awhile, I can see that they have a life of their own and that they end, as do all human emotions. They change after awhile.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. And Buddha had a method for dealing with this called "forgetfulness and inattention". The light bulb has just gone off in my head. This is how they do it. They just forget!!! NOW I GET IT!!! 


All this time I have been searching and feeling all these emotions of anger, sadness, confusion and all I had to do was sit with some RAIN and FORGET ABOUT IT! My friend Candy and I have discussed these emotions just recently, as she is going through some loss in her life like I am and she worded it just right to me but I failed to see it at the time. She said to me "Teri, you just have to let it go". And there, in that short sentence, was exactly what I just now realized, only it took me 114 pages to see! Sometimes what we are searching for is right under our nose.