Feeling Our Feelings, Holding Deep Compassion

Recently, I came across these sentences from a very fine book called The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, by Sogyal Rinpoche. They are sentences that remind us how important our feelings are:

Don't waste the love and grief it arouses; the moment you feel compassion welling up in you, don't brush it aside, don't shrug it off and try quickly to return to 'normal', don't be afraid of the feeling or embarrassed by it, allow yourself to be distracted from it or let it run aground in apathy. Be vulnerable; use that quick, bright up rush of compassion; focus on it, go deep into your heart and meditate on it, develop it, enhance and deepen it. By doing this you will realize how blind you have been to suffering.

These words remind me of a counselor who used to challenge me, when my heart was moved and the tears would well up in my eyes, to "Stay with what you're feeling." lt was usually a challenge to do so, because my tendency is to go back to my brain, go back to analyzing and being where I'm comfortable (in my head), where I can "be in control," I suppose. However, whenever I could and did stay with the feelings, there was a sense of release and healing that would come.

This weekend I'm involved with a Landmark Forum, a few intense days I've set apart for myself to examine some of the things that "I don't know that I don't know" -- the unconscious, if you will -- with a community of courageous people. Yesterday, our fearless leader shared a very personal story and was moved to tears. He shared his tears and his being moved openly with us. Other men in the group also shared their tears. It was very powerful and moving to experience especially these men I did not know share their intimate feelings so freely and honestly.

It always feels powerful and important to me to experience people allowing their feelings to be present and real. Too often in our society we are trained to hold our feelings inside, not to share what we're really feeling. Somehow we've made it okay to think, but not so okay to feel.

I encourage you to notice and BE with your feelings in these days of great change and transformation. They will be your guide into the future. Trust your feelings... they can guide you to the Deep Compassion that resides within you. They may even open doors that you never even knew existed!

Blessings on the Journey, Dancing Heart~~~