A light in the darkness

We all know have faced emotional crises, isn't it? What is it?  An emotional crisis also known as mental crisis is a natural element of life. We all face emotional crisis. It is a “ temporary, periodic disturbance of mental balance caused by a threat associated with the meaning of life, important values, in confrontation with important life problems. It is marked by a state of emotional tension, largely anxious “(Kubacka-Jasiecka, 2010, p. 26). Our mind is very good manager. The moment the crisis starts it starts using its means to handle them. They are a) Supression/ repression : The first thing that comes to our mind when we face an emotion is to supress them or repress them. Do you remember, how last time you had a fight with your husband or a close friend and you just kept your mouth shut controlling your overwhelming emotions. This suppression/repression generally happens unconsciously and then it starts making trouble in our lives. Can you recollect how you blasted on someone...

I remember one of my counseling classes when I was supposed to take a practice counseling session. I started my session quite well, and I was successful in grabbing the thoughts the person was going through. I held that and gave a good outcome to my client; my guide said no, this is not a wise move in counseling, and I was like, all was good, why did he say this? I didn't understand why, to date.  Today, as I was reading the perspective of Dr. Hawkins on understanding our emotions, he cited a wonderful example of misplacing his passport just before our scheduled trip. He searched every place and every corner but could not find it. His thoughts were flooded with canceled trips, loss of business meetings, family trips, etc. Since there was no time to apply for another passport, he quietly sat down and dove deep within himself to understand what he was feeling right now. Yes, he was full of fear. Fear of what? It was the fear of losing the near and dear ones, fear of loss of relations...

In my last post, I discussed the connection between our emotions and our levels of consciousness. I was convinced by this argument, but then Hawkins introduced a new concept to me of consciousness and energy centers.  As I was talking about levels of consciousness with specified amounts of energies. Within our body operates an energy system. Now, our body is full of channels (nadis), and the focal point where all these channels converge is known as the chakras , or energy vortex, which radiates electromagnetic energies that have the power to give as well as receive energies . These chakras run down our spine and are seven in number. These chakras build connections between body parts and our emotions. We can analogy it to a flowing river. We all face emotional wounds and traumas. These emotional wounds and traumas can block the electromagnetic energies from the chakras and thus prevent them from delivering prana, or life force (a/k/a kundalini energy), to our bodies. When there is...

When I was in school, I never believed in energy levels and consciousness-like things. As I grew and developed an interest in psychology, I found how our conscious and unconscious selves affect us. Though I was not much into energy centers of our body, I feel some contents can be grasped with positivity and can build our life. I will begin with the map of consciousness developed by Dr. David R. Hawkins, taken from Simon Power's post on "what is the map of consciousness." This awareness about consciousness was enlightening for me. Hawkins says that everything in this universe emits energy, either positive or negative. I agree with him here. We all have instances when we do not want to hang around some kind of people like those who always deceit us, those who always spit hateful words, or those who are greedy. Why? This is because they emit negative energy. On the other hand, we all want to befriend those who have offered help when we needed it unconditionally, those who ha...

In my last post, I discussed the role emotions play in the process of letting go. So, emotions are an integral part of letting go, and we need to be aware of these emotions. AWARE?? We are always aware of our emotions, isn't it?  How many times have you all said that I don't know why I fought with him/her? or something happened and I reacted in this way? or I don't know why my mood is not good? These all show that we are not aware of our emotions. I have faced this many times, and through hard lessons I have to learn to be aware of my emotions.  I remember one of my job scenarios where I had to leave my city for the job. Something was troubling me from within, and I don't know what? I went to that place to join. By evening, my peace was totally gone, and I just cannot sit or relax at all. For me, having this job was important, but for my survival, my peace was the necessity. I started questioning myself: Why am I not happy when I am getting a job? I had no answer. Night...

For a fortnight, I have been talking about how letting go benefits us. Still, we all feel the resistance to do. When the thing is good, why is there resistance? Letting go leads our emotions to a better world where emotions no longer need to be the leader. Now the question arises: how do our emotions become the leaders? It is the ego that wants to hold on and doesn't allow letting go to happen. It keeps flaring our emotions so that we don't let go and keep feeding the needs of our ego either by venting in the wrong way or acting out impulsively and aggressively. This ego makes us forget to surrender often or try for frequent escapism, which is no way helpful in dealing with such situations.  The more you resist, the more you desire, so don't resist this resistance that is arising. Don't use distractions from this resistance or force yourself to let go. It is not going to work. Just let the resistance be there, and you will be aware that your ego is not allowing you to l...

On this Valentine's Day, I thought to explore what letting go has to do in relationships, and that was mind-blowing. We all expect something in a relationship, isn't it? These expectations could be because of our own needs or desires or could be born from societal pressures and family demands. These expectations finally build the barricade of what our perfect relationship should look like. In other words, we want the control of our ideal relationship in our hands, and we get so attached to it that we fail to realize how suffocating the relationship is becoming in the trade-off of making it perfect. We all know nothing is perfect. Not even the whiteness of the moon nor the brightness of the sun; then why are we expecting a perfect relationship without flaws and shortcomings? My friend and I share the same month's birthday. I wanted to give a gift, so I inquired about my friend's likes and dislikes. After trying all the secret tricks to know all the details, I failed to g...

  Today I want to take a break and introduce you all to the concept of surrender. I began my discussion by understanding what is in control and what is not, which means surrendering my control; then I talked about watching oneself from a distance, which means surrendering my present place and going to a new place and seeing myself; and the third one, which I discussed, was about watching oneself from the future, which means to surrender my present hold and go to the future where I want to be, and from there, what would my understanding be for the present situation. In all there, I am talking about surrender. What does surrender mean? David R. Hawkins, in his book "Letting Go: The Pathway to Surrender," says that surrender means to have no strong feeling about a thing. In other words, if I have surrendered a thing to you, whether you make good of it or bad of it should not affect me in any way. The attachment that is built with the thing makes us think about what will happen i...

In my last post, I talked about understanding where to execute the wand of control and where to let go of this wand of control. Now the question arises: how to understand what to let go of or what to hold on to. This introduced me to the understanding of Epictetus, where he says that for well-being, we need to execute our wand of control in these three faculties of mind.  1) The faculty of Judgement Our judgments are based on our thoughts, emotions, and beliefs. They help us to judge what is right or wrong, true or false, and good or bad. This is the first faculty that we should use to develop accurate and rational beliefs and thoughts about the world we live in. When we were children, we had the tendency to see only one side of the situation, but as we grow, we should develop an attitude to explore various perspectives before reaching a conclusion. We all come across situations when our emotions are loud, and we just want to go with it. That is not good. We need to stop here and u...

The first lesson that calmed me when I felt the situation was getting out of control was to understand who owned the wand of power. Nick called this a "dichotomy of control." Let's explore this concept. We all know this truth, but we always forget it. I also forgot this in the face of making things happen my way and landed in a situation where it was not happening my way. This was the time when I came across the Philosopher Epictetus's quote " Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our actions. The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others." Epictetus,  Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses When I read that some things are under ou...