“Never view obstacles in your path as the enemy. Rather, view any obstacles as detour signs to avoid pitfalls.”
Donald L. Hicks, Look into the stillness
Tying It All Together (How to Avoid the Pitfall):
In order to fully “digest” your emotions you must strengthen your self-aware/conscious brain. That means you must learn to recognize the thoughts and stories of the thinking/emotional brain AS thoughts and stories that are arising out of the infinite ocean of possibilities. To oversimplify a complex issue; You are not the thoughts and emotions that arise but instead, You are the one who is aware of the thoughts and emotions that are there to be noticed.
Thoughts and emotions are like “waves” from the ocean of the thinking/emotional brain that “wash over” you when you become aware of them. You have no conscious control over which waves come (very much like how you have no conscious control over your subconscious in western psychology) however you can learn to become aware of the “wave” of thought without becoming identified with the thought.
This is the core difference between the phrases I introduced earier; “I am thinking…” is becoming lost in the wave and identified with the thought whereas “I am aware of the thought…” is becoming consciously aware of the thought that is arising to be noticed.
Feeling lost? That’s ok! This is by far the hardest concept for most people to understand and it is part of why it is so important to emotional health and wellness as well as a thriving physical body.
You can learn more about it on the “Self-Aware/Conscious Brain” page, the “Thinking/Emotional Brain” page, it will be further discussed on “Healing the Mind Through Emotional Digestion 101”, and it is covered from many different angles throughout this entire blog.
So how do I avoid the most common pitfall in “emotional digestion”?
In short you need to become aware through personal and direct experience the difference between “I am thinking…” and “I am aware of the thought…”.
This process of becoming aware through personal experience and recognizing the difference between these 2 sentences is also offered in a podcast meditation available in 3 different forms on the “Self-Aware/Conscious Brain” page, the “Thinking/Emotional Brain” page, and “Body Brain” page. This process of “becoming aware” or developing your self-aware/conscious brain is also the primary focus of the 1 on 1 Therapy we offer available via zoom.
Once you are able to recognize the difference between the 2 you can “hold space” for the thought and emotion to arise (like watching a wave coming in) without becoming lost in the wave itself (identified as the thought you are thinking). This allows the self-aware/conscious brain to integrate the thought and emotion into your body, digest the energy it is holding, and free up the flow of energy so the physical body can function optimally.
SHORT DISCLAIMER:
Please note that I am not exploring here a favorite topic of philosophers and spiritual leaders which is “what am I” or more precisely “what is being referred to when using the word I,” as I believe this was less important in Traditional Chinese Medicine which was concerned primarily the embodied experience (how dis-ease presents in a clinical situation.)
When using phrases like “you are aware of the thought” or “you are not creating the thought” I am only using these terms to highlight a particular aspect of experience that most people are unaware of. For the sake of clarity I will proceed under the assumption that “I” refers to the entire experience of the psyche as defined by TCM (which includes thoughts, feelings, emotions, awareness, will power, and intellect.)
Where To Next?
Build on your understanding of emotional digestion/de-storying:
- Coming soon…..
Learn about specific emotional digestion practices for your specific challenges in the Pick Your Struggle Tab:
Get personalized 1 on 1 attention by scheduling a private session: