When we experience an emotion, the cause is not always clear. With joy, we don’t tend to question too much. We are just ecstatic it is present. However, with perceived negative emotions like anger or sorrow there is often an earnest desire to search for the cause so we can “fix it”. Have you noticed that?
Today I found myself feeling anger. Not reactionary anger. More of a slow-burn kind of feeling. I could feel it rising within me for most of the morning. The triggers were quite random and varied. These are not something I need to articulate here. This is not what this post is about.
When I am ungrounded my head becomes like a naughty child in a shop. It runs all over the place, not stopping for a moment and it plays with things that don’t belong to me. And boy oh boy, let’s not discuss the tantrums!
I caught myself slowly building a snowball of anger, adding one reaction to another. I asked myself, “where does this anger come from? Is it yours?” Sitting quietly, I noticed pictures and thoughts entering my mind in answer to my questions. I gave myself permission to let the anger go. I once again repeated the questions, I received a different answer and I reiterated the process.
Asking for Guidance
Still feeling unsettled, I decided to use my Peacock Dreaming Oracle cards to help me acquire some further clarity.
I shuffled the cards and the Guidance card came out.
As I stared deep into the flowers in the card, a voice in the mind said, “focus on the moment”. I sat there perplexed I thought I had been present all morning. However, a realisation slowly grew that whilst I had been spending a lot of time on my own today, my mind had in fact been chattering away reacting and offering all sorts of interesting points of view on the people and moments that triggered feeling. I had not been present in the moment at all.
Opening the book, Peacock Dreaming: The Wisdom Of Flowers to the Guidance page, I was gently reminded of the following:
“Focus your energies on what you really, really, really want to do in life. Take the time to enjoy the journey.”
Peacock Dreaming: The Wisdom Of Flowers
How often do we rob ourselves of the joy of being completely immersed in the moment of solitude by buying into the distraction of our mind chatter?
As I sit with this realisation, instead of that slow-burning anger there is a tingly, light feeling. I feel the love of the presence that is guiding me out of the funk. And I am thankful that these days I am able to bring myself back to the present with ease.
Anne McCormack is author of the book, Lovitude: Trying To Calm The Monkey Mind and the award-winning, Peacock Dreaming: The Wisdom Of Flowers.
Feature photo courtesy of Pixabay
Interested in more articles? Check these out:
My Wish For You – Stepping Into Mindfulness
Making Me Happy! A Journey Into Mindfulness
