arise_and_pass lurvy There wasn't a turning point. It was/is a long gradient, long enough that you couldn't pin point when exactly A had turned into B. But somehow a different way of dealing with emotions came about. The first time I heard it, I don't remember, but I bet it felt like a profound revelation. It must have been back in the days where I thought I could just hear about a new way of doing things and just implement it immediately, and forevermore. (What an amazing and tragic way to turn something positive into a downward spiral!) I practiced and succeeded, practiced and failed: Identify the emotions arising. Observe and allow. What is the effect on the body? Experience fully. Let pass when it feels like time. Sounds easy. All you have to do is feel what you feel and stop feeling it when you're done feeling it. I watch my daughter doing it this way, and even though I'm practiced, it amazes me to see it. A part of me is still trained to believe that it should be different. That part wants her to stop being (loudly) sad when it's inconvenient for me, or when her reason just doesn't make any sense to me. That part wants her to be happy and satisfied for longer. All to no avail. The practice is forced here. I was thinking the other day that I couldn't exactly remember the last time I had felt depressed. I could remember the last time I was angry and sad. It was happening just then. I have so many memories of making myself angrier because I tried not to be angry. Times I drove myself insane because I didn't want to be sad, only to end up sadder than ever. Times I couldn't truly be happy because I was worried about when my happiness would end. The story is that pain and suffering are two different things, but I think that's an oversimplification. (see: the_century) Anyway, letting emotions arise and pass naturally, as a means to alleviate suffering... it's a Buddhist thing. It turns out it actually works (eventually). 120923 ... unhinged just because i can sit with myself and be accepting and content doesn't mean others can do the same i need you to understand i need you to accept me i have tried for so long my awakened_heart is too much for me to bear all_alone 120923 what's it to you? who go blather from