Thanks Tarin, this is very helpful. It shows me I've been repressing my feelings without knowing it. I guess this is a good time to de-lurk and start a practice thread.

Welcome to the DhO, nice to see another lurker sticking their head up.

When you're looking at feelings, see how and where they arise in the body; if something unpleasant, for example irritation or anger, appears then see if you can just observe it as it happens without trying to stop it, change it, repress or express it. When you start doing this, you can begin to see all the different components of the feeling and see how it happens. By doing this, you can learn to break it down and see how each feeling has a physical and a mental aspect, what it was that led to that feeling arising and the way in which your own mental narrative about that feeling allows it to continue.

Feelings are like messengers, they've got something to tell "you" and seem to light up the still, calmness underlying things so watch how the move, how the come into being and go away again. Here's a few links which may be of use:

Some useful notes from Tarin, Trent & Dan.
A post by Tarin on naivetè and sincerity.
A useful technique for getting back to naivetè.
A good way to operate in general...

Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

Tommy

I agree, the quote is great. it makes me think of a buddhist concept, which is that you have to know the correct duty for each of the noble truths. the first noble truth is the truth of suffering and the duty is to comprehend its cause, the duty with regards to the second truth, the cause of suffering, is to let go of the cause. the repression can happen when we try to directly let go of suffering rather than observing and understanding suffering until we see its cause clearly enough to let the cause go.

wow josh. That is fantastic. I needed to hear that. It is so easy to slip into 'escape mode' rather than 'understand and let go' mode.

It hurts because I am clenching my fist. The pain is not the problem, it is a symptom.

I agree with Tommy.

Feelings light up the body, like christmas lights, like fireflies in the forest, like sparkles on water, clarifying nerve endings and pathways of chemical messengers, showing us where body is, providing brighter objects for clear comprehension, making plain those things sometimes hidden.

Mindfulness
Investigation
Energy
Rapture
Tranquility
Concentration
Equanimity

These applied to feelings reveal very interesting and useful things.

Seen this way, one helps avoid the perennial traps of denial, dissociation, repression, and shadow sides.

Daniel

you're welcome. if you like, let me know how things go.