Episode Details

In this meditation, I explore how meditation can help us move beneath the surface of our emotional life and begin to understand the many influences that shape a feeling or reaction.

We begin by settling into the body, releasing tension and becoming grounded in the breath and the present moment. From this place of stability, we bring to mind a recent experience of happiness or joy and observe it carefully.

Rather than simply enjoying the memory, we begin to ask where that emotion came from. What circumstances allowed joy to arise? Why did we respond to those particular circumstances in that particular way? What experiences in our lives made us ready to receive that happiness?

Meditation teachers sometimes describe the connection between stimulus and response as a rope. When examined closely, the rope turns out to contain many individual fibres: emotions, thoughts, sensations, memories and experiences woven together.

In meditation, we can allow that rope to loosen and examine its individual strands with curiosity and compassion. We can understand what is useful and what we may wish to release.

Although we begin here with happiness and joy, the same method can be brought to any emotional experience, helping us become more aware of the deeper causes behind our reactions and behaviours.

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction: Getting to the roots of emotion

00:55 – Opening bell

01:06 – Entering the present moment

01:30 – Relaxing the body

02:20 – Settling into stability and calm

02:59 – Remembering a moment of happiness or joy

03:53 – Observing the experience of joy

04:22 – Exploring what caused the feeling

04:41 – The seven circumstances of experience

05:20 – Looking beyond the immediate cause

06:22 – What made me ready to receive joy?

07:22 – Discovering deeper emotional patterns

07:37 – The image of the rope and its fibres

08:13 – Unravelling thoughts, feelings and memories

08:39 – Examining the emotional fibres

09:30 – What would I weave in or leave out?

09:56 – Applying the practice to every emotion

10:24 – Receiving what arises with compassion

10:51 – Returning to the body

11:20 – Resolving to notice the causes of our reactions

11:35 – Closing bell

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