http://www.emotiontoolkit.com/journal Journal of a Psychology PhD Student Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:51:15 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Nearly all the water was gone from the creek.  The large stones and pebbles in the creek bed, the skeletal remains of the sinewy current, were still moist.  They paved a hidden way through the trees, hemmed by walls of dark earth. I stepped carefully, rounding each curve, always thinking it ... http://www.emotiontoolkit.com/journal/?p=478 I took my two boys to the beach, and we were on our way back to the car to retrieve some sunscreen. My six year old began to run ahead of my three year old. My three year old wanted to be first, so he started crying. He was crying ... http://www.emotiontoolkit.com/journal/?p=476 Two hands lift silt from the bottom of the shallow river and rise to the surface.  The sun shines into the water as the silt is carried away by the current.  The hands, glowing golden against the black river bottom like a treasure, gather another layer of silt and hold ... http://www.emotiontoolkit.com/journal/?p=475 In Buddhism, samsara refers to a certain way of experiencing reality that involves an endless creation of mental worlds, or mental constructs, to grapple with life so that we can find peace and fulfillment.  The process evokes suffering that ranges from chronic discontent to intense anguish, because the ultimate transience ... http://www.emotiontoolkit.com/journal/?p=471 We're moved by extremes to call forth great love and openness, but the small and ordinary things require our hearts in just the same way.  As we're moved to show compassion to someone starving on the streets, we can be moved to compassion for someone hungry for a conversation.  As ... http://www.emotiontoolkit.com/journal/?p=470 "What if you let go of every bit of control and every urge that you have," asks Adyashanti, "right down to the most infinitesimal urge to control anything, anywhere, including anything that may be happening with you at this moment?"  If you did, he says, you would be "a spiritually ... http://www.emotiontoolkit.com/journal/?p=469 Your mere presence in this world is your offering of love.  You can love with being instead of with doing.  The problem of how to love is only a problem when you want to know "what do I do?"  How do I give to the world?  But your very self ... http://www.emotiontoolkit.com/journal/?p=468 Once you've been burned, it's hard to come close to the fire.  There is light and warmth but also the danger of being badly injured or consumed.  The metaphor is very appropriate, because it captures something crucial: why something we want so dearly and enjoy so much causes fear.  Pain ... http://www.emotiontoolkit.com/journal/?p=467 Sunday night, I lay in the grass by the lake watching the sun set behind a line of thick trees on the horizon.  The air was fresh and warm, enveloping my skin like a silk sheet.  The water looked like gleaming liquid metal with a pastel sheen.  Sail boats coasted ... http://www.emotiontoolkit.com/journal/?p=462 Today, I focus on being in the moment through listening.  Listening as if everything around me was about to share the most profound secret. If I were going to tell someone the secret of this reality (as if I knew), I would put it this way: Okay, now, I'm going to tell ... http://www.emotiontoolkit.com/journal/?p=461