The Five Words

Learning what our emotions are, what to do with them, how they matter, and what they can teach us is pretty much what the journey of life on this planet is about. Do we manage our emotions or do they manage us? Do emotions lead us to heights of glory or depths of madness? Are they the keys to the kingdom of spiritual growth and freedom, or the clang of the prison door? Or, are emotions all of the above? It is helpful to think of emotion as an ocean. In the middle of this ocean sits a boat comprised of all the baggage, experience, and reactions you have used to make up your life. On a clear day the water is calm, breezes refresh and revitalize you, birds call and small clouds scuttle above. Other days the ocean is rough. Waves crash into the boat, sometimes over it, the wind howls and the birds have long since flown to sanctuary. The storm literally rocks your world. Your very existence is challenged on precarious seas. What can you do? You can do things that create stability in your craft. You can ride it out, or you can move to a place of safety. Sometimes you feel over-whelmed, or too tired, or that you are not skilled enough to handle your situation. You may feel hopeless or helpless. You may feel that the storm is bigger than you are, more powerful than you. You may give up; leave the wheel hoping that someone else will guide the boat to safety. You may run below to put on a life jacket. You may shout to the heavens or gods that this part of the journey is not your responsibility, that you cannot do this. The ocean, however, is as much a part of the landscape of your life as the boat! How do you change the ocean? Perhaps the secret is to learn strategies to deal with the ocean, gaining understanding of the cycles and currents, fortify against the storm, prepare and practice. This is what brings you through to the other side of the storm stronger. Like the ocean, emotions can present powerful challenges in life; and, like the ocean, emotions are neutral. The ocean is neither good nor bad. Even the really big emotions are compliments and color points on a scale of light and shadow that describe life. Emotions are neither good nor bad. Emotions simply are. They are fluid and vary in intensity and duration. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) yin and yang are the expression of the extremes of creation, including emotion. For example, grief is a yin emotion and anger is yang. Other yin aspects of creation include the moon, shade, stagnant, cool, calm, and restful while yang is characterized by the sun, bright, warming, explosive, vital, and active. All levels of emotion are some combination of yin and yang, as is the ocean itself, moving and vital, quiet and deep. Emotions are the gifts of Creator God that give us the opportunity to experience life. They are cyclical, sometimes surging and grasping like a riptide. Emotions can come in waves, sometimes supporting and uplifting and sometimes, like the perfect storm, threatening to engulf and destroy you. Fortunately, we can begin to understand, fortify, prepare, and practice. All emotions stem from love, the great creative emotion that is God. Love is not an extreme emotion; it is the original state of being. It is the impulse of creation. Gradually, as love expressed into light and shadow, yin and yang, all of creation came into being, as did the whole range of emotion. In God there is only love, all light and shadow is the love of God expressing and teaching. There is no intention from God for the soul to experience suffering. On earth, however, where we have stepped beyond the understanding of what is true and what is really intended by the Creator, suffering happens. Free will allows us to manipulate this beautiful creation and we do not always act in love. We have created the energies that compromise “Eden.” Our work on the planet is to bring those energies back into balance, back to that original state of being, love. Emotions are how we know we are alive and what sometimes cause us to wish otherwise. They are the evidence of our experience and the catalysts of change. They define the conditions of our lives, and they are our means of growth toward fullness of spirit and fullness of life. Learning what our emotions are, what to do with them, how they matter, and what they can teach us is pretty much what the journey of life on this planet is about. Do we manage our emotions or do they manage us? Do emotions lead us to heights of glory or depths of madness? Are they the keys to the kingdom of spiritual growth and freedom, or the clang of the prison door? Or, are emotions all of the above? It is helpful to think of emotion as an ocean. In the middle of this ocean sits a boat comprised of all the baggage, experience, and reactions you have used to make up your life. On a clear day the water is calm, breezes refresh and revitalize you, birds call and small clouds scuttle above. Other days the ocean is rough. Waves crash into the boat, sometimes over it, the wind howls and the birds have long since flown to sanctuary. The storm literally rocks your world. Your very existence is challenged on precarious seas. What can you do? You can do things that create stability in your craft. You can ride it out, or you can move to a place of safety. Sometimes you feel over-whelmed, or too tired, or that you are not skilled enough to handle your situation. You may feel hopeless or helpless. You may feel that the storm is bigger than you are, more powerful than you. You may give up; leave the wheel hoping that someone else will guide the boat to safety. You may run below to put on a life jacket. You may shout to the heavens or gods that this part of the journey is not your responsibility, that you cannot do this. The ocean, however, is as much a part of the landscape of your life as the boat! How do you change the ocean? Perhaps the secret is to learn strategies to deal with the ocean, gaining understanding of the cycles and currents, fortify against the storm, prepare and practice. This is what brings you through to the other side of the storm stronger. Like the ocean, emotions can present powerful challenges in life; and, like the ocean, emotions are neutral. The ocean is neither good nor bad. Even the really big emotions are compliments and color points on a scale of light and shadow that describe life. Emotions are neither good nor bad. Emotions simply are. They are fluid and vary in intensity and duration. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) yin and yang are the expression of the extremes of creation, including emotion. For example, grief is a yin emotion and anger is yang. Other yin aspects of creation include the moon, shade, stagnant, cool, calm, and restful while yang is characterized by the sun, bright, warming, explosive, vital, and active. All levels of emotion are some combination of yin and yang, as is the ocean itself, moving and vital, quiet and deep. Emotions are the gifts of Creator God that give us the opportunity to experience life. They are cyclical, sometimes surging and grasping like a riptide. Emotions can come in waves, sometimes supporting and uplifting and sometimes, like the perfect storm, threatening to engulf and destroy you. Fortunately, we can begin to understand, fortify, prepare, and practice.