Emotional mastery after awakening?

[mandyjw]

Wow.

I predicted that pointer in a completely ass backward way in my sleep last night. I needed the actual day waking pointer for the full circle impact though. Thank you.

God likes surprises. Surprises are all the more fun if you know they are coming but don't know what they will be yet. Like Christmas. 

I hope that your houseguest doesn't leave you too many surprises. 

 

[Nahm]

@mandyjw ?  God is funny in deed! 

[Enlightenment]

I don't know what is exactly meant by emotional mastery but enlightenment doesn't get rid of negative emotions fear etc.

[LastThursday]

Is mastering emotions really about dropping the stories attached to them? Is mastering emotions about fully embodying their dynamic without prejudice? Is mastering emotions about knowing that they are an illusion to be seen through?

[perlita]

@mandyjw Curious how you deal with your kid's outbursts nowadays. I tend to lose it when it comes to my kids, the rage I sometimes experience is just beyond "my control". There was an interesting discussion about parenting and negative emotions in the New York Times the other day. 

[mandyjw]

@perlita Kids are trial under fire, that's for sure! I'm doing pretty good, not perfect by any means though. One thing that really helps is if i can just look at them. I find that if you I be conscious enough to really watch them and see them, it stops the spiral of thoughts that leads to loss of control. Another thing that helps is meditation, because I find that meditation is a practice of being space, and the better you get at being "space" the more you are able to hold the space for the child and the screams and fits go through you and don't find anything to stop and resist. 

It's such a common thing in life to raise kids, but it's the hardest thing we'll do.  It sounds really cliche, but lots of attention to self care and self love is a MUST when you have young kids. 

 

[LastThursday]

@perlita why do you think your loss of control is a negative thing? Do your kids ever lose control?

[perlita]

@LastThursday well, yelling at your kids is not exactly a demonstration of emotional mastery, is it?  My kids are in the NOW, they act out whatever energy they feel, there is no little "I" yet trying to "control" everything.  and it's an interesting paradox - I am trying to condition them, make them behave a certain way. And here we are, seeking to unlearn those conditions and go back to the basics... 

[d0ornokey]

I don't yet have this in my direct experience, but Leo said he made the mistake of thinking that enlightenment produced emotional mastery, and then realized that they are distinct things that help one another 

 

But to your question, 

Yeah I'm wondering this too and super curious. Like what the fuck does emotional mastery look like? I think I should ask that question on psychedelics 

Edited September 25, 2019 by d0ornokey

[LastThursday]

@perlita emotions are like breathing. Most of the time breathing just happens without effort or thought, but sometimes you consciously control your breathing (say for meditation).

Emotional mastery is being able to control your emotions when it's necessary, and letting them just happen when it's not. It's a fine line. It's working with your emotions and not against them. 

So I would say that suppressing all your emotions is not mastery, because we are emotional beings. But I would also say that unconsciously letting every emotion wash over you with abandon (as your kids might) is also not mastery. The mastery is somewhere in-between.

But I would also say that beating yourself up about emotions which have passed (i.e. attaching a story to them), is also not mastery. Emotions come and emotions go. Letting the emotions go once they've played their part is also part of the mastery.