There is an insight I'd like to discuss with you guys! I've been contemplating Emotion recently. Not individual emotions, but the entire domain: What is Emotion? What is the stuff it is made of? Does it have a connection with the body? I was influenced by this idea from somatic psychology that emotions show up in the body, and so, I took them to be more real than thoughts. I took this idea literally. I thought: "Hmm, the body is an object, and if emotions show up in the body, then they must be as real as the objects. Maybe that's how the movement of the hormones feels!" Suddenly, it occurred to me that emotions are a type of thought! They are nowhere - not in the walls of the room, nor does my stomach suddenly change colour when I get angry or happy. They seem to influence the body, but so do verbal thoughts. Just like verbal thoughts are viewed as happening in the head, emotions are viewed as happening in different areas of the body. That connection is a belief! So, there are different types of thought: inner voice, remembering, staging a scene, creating images, knowing how a door works, and... emotion! I'm curious about your feedback on my contemplation. Is there anything I'm not seeing?

Hey guys, Lately I've stumbled across a realization on the nature of what has limited me in my communications with others, and now I feel I can start to drop them and live life from a different self or social context. In a nutshell, I've seen that a lot of the ways I interact with others comes down to feeling like I have to hide a true expression of myself. This was NOT something I consciously thought of, in fact, I can often say the opposite! I'm one of the types of guys who can yap on and on about honesty and authenticity and things like that, coming from a sort of Cheng Hsin influence. Yet, I've noticed in my patterns a sense that I can't fully open up to others for fear of... Something happening? Like I always have to be the nice, cheery, upbeat "love you" type guy. And I have that, to a degree, yet a big part of how I interact with others can come from this, and I'm now starting to see it as limiting, or unnecessary. When I am busy being "that person," I feel I am one step removed from that other person, as well as them being one step removed from me, so to speak. I feel that that's a powerful realization in my communications, because I feel it really opens me up to communucating in a whole new way, that i haven't really done in a while. Even more importantly, I feel I can become more authentic and honest with myself, and begin to orient my perceptions and actions toward the truth instead of whatever I'm simply trying to chase after. As a side note, isn't that interesting? What we WANT can steer us towards any direction. If I only stick with what I "want", I could've just as easily kept pursuing being this charming guy and not made any breakthrough on real communication. It's starting to seem better to pursue what's true instead. From "within us" or "without." Might take some courage, but I feel I'm starting to walk the path. Thank you guyz

Hi everyone, Has anyone else ever noticed a sort of thing going on in their experience where you do a lot of things, decide to live your life in a certain way and engage in things, but somewhere in there, underneath, you can't help feeling like there's something you're mising? Like right under your nose influencing all of that behavior? I feel like I've got a lot of that going on right now, and like, being wrapped up in everything that this idea tells me to do causes me suffering and leaves me separate from a deeper connection with what's true. I'm starting to have some separation from it, and am beginning to question it, and am just wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences?

I'm noticing something in the domain of the qualities that arise as a result of aligning with the principle or quality of Cheng Hsin when it comes to being a body. And that is that the quality or misalignment of our bodies can be traced to the "qualities" that influence or shape our "holding" of it day to day. Simply engaging in activities that "stress" or challenge this body-mind, such as free-flowing, or intense activities, "bring it out" or to the fore, but they are not simply and only brought about by such activities in many cases. Only revealed. Yet when we pay close attention, it seems in regular, non-challenging activities such as walking or sitting, the SAME predicament arises. We are tense. In some areas more than others. Why is this? Body appears not only as a "purely physical" event. It appears as "psycho-physical," as in our MINDS are responsible for much of (if not all of) this physical tension. That's useful to look at. I want to drop a quote from The Principles of Effortless Power under the section detailing Calm "What we do with our minds is very important, so we must study this activity. Being, or Consciousness, controls the body. It also controls thoughts, emotions, and the energy of the body. However, most of us are controlled by and identified with mind, and so mind influences and appears to control everything we do." Another quote, a bit deeper in says "Every other principle and all that you do starts here. If you want to relax, this is how you do it. Do you want to move this, turn from here, sink that, feel this? You must direct these things. This is the beginning of “mind-power.” Every single thing that you do arises from Consciousness and is done via the “force of being alive” — what we might call "life force" — and so it is with mind." Anyway, just wanted to share that.

Hey guys, A couple weeks ago I came back from the spring retreat, where we did the ending suffering workshop, and i wanted to share something that has dawned on me since leaving and applying the work to "my life." That this living "drama" I have about wanting to work hard and complete this and that but not wanting to do it is all an idea! I mean yeah, no shit it's an idea, but it's literally just the effect that I'd live within as a constantly thought thought that I don't need to think and I can just be one with enjoying shit and working. Its that easy. It started with me going after what was immediate, that there is a suffering here that I can cut that out and stop making excuses FOR it. So I really started to and have been thRowing myself into it, and the funny thing is, is that that opens up. It didn't just end with what I immediately thought it would, ergo the immediate suffering. Coming from the more complete place, I started to see life from this way, and then I sort of dropped this "drama" idea and have been working AND enjoying myself, more unified in that that's ACTUALLY what I want to do. A little flavor of consciousness in there, if you will. Anyway, I just wanted to share that. I look forward to any gleaning new insights or breakthroughs available. Much love