I’ve found the image of “clouds” to be helpful in understanding
…that feelings come and go…
youtube “video/booklet” of “Feelings, Like Clouds….”
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Click on images to enlarge, for easier reading
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To be truthful about one of my actual perspectives: Even though this idea of acceptance of the feelings, whether they are positive or challenging, is very helpful and does have “truth” in it and is, or has potential to be, an effective process….
some of the time, if it’s an unpleasant feeling,
I just want to get rid of it as quickly as possible!
I know that there is a process of feelings “arising….lasting awhile…..and then moving on”….
But truthfully????
I’d prefer…
“arise….go away!…scat!….get away from me!….”
So….that’s where I am….I do try to accept….and I do try to breathe with it…but really, underneath my accepting philosophy, I want unpleasant feelings to just go away as quickly as possible! Unfortunately, that strategy doesn’t work very well, so I practice this different way.
That “booklet” was made in 2008…..now it’s 2011….I’m making progress, but I still often have that underlying wish …truthfully, I still wish I could just get rid of unhappy feelings…quickly!
And so,
…..sigh…..
this seems to be one way that it works…..
to accept and learn to live with this awareness…
Post: “Arise…abide….dissolve…”
Sometimes I find it helpful to also use more cognitive or “thinking/working it through” type of strategies. Here are a few I’ve come up with and find helpful” (by the way, I am not a psychologist…these are just ideas and strategies that I’ve come up with for using with myself, after lots of reading, workshops, thinking, observing etc )
Post: Adjusting: a sequence of 5 helpful steps that I use in the midst of a challenging feeling (click on small images to enlarge for easier reading)
Post: AIMS: (accept, imagine, measure, skills) A different 4 step process that I came up with a few years ago…and find helpful
Post: Clear Thinking: more steps and strategies that I find helpful to use in the moment
Post: Loving kindness….so helpful
ps…..for me, practicing sitting meditation on a regular basis (well, as often as I can get myself to do that) has helped sooo much with “calming my mind”…and so has reading lots of books about understanding the mind and the flow of life. And of course, creating and using visual images helps me so much too….
And so…. these various pages have helped me…maybe there are ideas or pages in this post that might be helpful for others….
I wish us all well……
in whatever it might be for each one of us,
that will lead to fewer challenging reactions
and the nurturing and development of increasing happiness…
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Just an added note…I’ll make a post/page in the next few days about the following, because there are steps within it…..this is really nice…I got a blogger “award” yesterday, from another blogger who lives in Australia…from happydancecat at Year of Kindness ( a remarkable blog!.. she is making/doing a significant act of kindness each day for one year) …the award? an “Irresistibly Sweet Blog” award…. : )
Pocket Perspectives 
So true. Clouds are so tranparent, so open and honest. One time when I was heading for work, the formations looked sad, with dark circles all around, then it weeped, and the tears came in the form of rain. Sweet post!
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Thank you…. I wasn’t confident that I was able to express what I was trying to “say”.
I love clouds…in the sky. How remarkable to see such a “sad” looking cloud and then to see it “weep”…what a poignant moment that must have been…special.
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Beautiful. It’s a helpful way to think of it because even when it’s cloudy and miserable and you can’t see the sun at all, you know it will appear again sometime soon.
Congrats on the award, you really deserve it. 🙂
Cat
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Thank you, Cat. (Cat, my 24 year old daughter was really “tickled” by the idea of me getting that….she apparently seems to tend to consider me to be “sweet”…so she got a good giggle from that) …
And yes, isn’t it remarkable to think that even on a gray or gloomy day that the sun and blue sky are still right there..and so it is with that steadiness, happiness and calmness…still there underneath it all.
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The sun is shining everyday, but sometimes it is obscured by clouds. Life is enhanced by the constant ebb and flow of emotions. We generally appreciate our sunny dispositions more after a cloudy day . . . as long as we don’t get attached to the idea of being sad.
It’s been a sad day today. Thanks for your kind words, Kathy.
Now the clouds have cleared, and I can see the sun.
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Oh Nancy, my heart goes out to you….I’ve been thinking about you all afternoon….and the abundant tears?…those are just another expression of the many years of deep love and appreciation you have shared with each other. It also occurred to me that “arise….abide…dissolve…”…that’s the flow of a life too…and as you wrote in your own post, to live it well.
I just added a poem to my aunt’s blog…it ties in with your day… she gave me the last 2 lines when I was there a few weeks ago http://poemsbyokie.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/life/
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Actually, I do love clouds… I like to look at them and imagine stories around them… 🙂
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I love clouds too! And you imagine not just what the cloud looks like but a whole story too? : ) Do you write down the stories?
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I am so glad to have read this post today. I woke up sad b/c I fell asleep sad. My sister’s house has been flooded by tropical storm Lee, the elementary school in her town (upstate NY) has been condemed, the building she works in is under many feet of water.
My (24 yr old) daughter lives and works in NYC and b/c of this anniversary weekend, I am more than worried about her safety.
My younger (21 yr old) daughter recently had to give up her house cat and it’s breaking her heart. Breaking mine to watch her mourn.
Our new school year has started and my heart already goes out to so many of these 5 year olds…
Again, thank you for your post. You have helped me today. Please keep sending positive energy.
I have been reminded that “This too shall pass.”
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Oh tuesday2 …you have such a wonderful tender heart… : ) …what a lot of challenges for so many of your loved ones and their communities…and since you’re such a kind person, I’m sure it’s difficult for you to see them in trying situations. Isn’t is strange that life can go along so smoothly and then so many challenges all at once? For those of us who want everyone to be happy and okay, it’s difficult when that happens. (oh if only we could say “scat! go away sadness/problems!” and have the sadness/problems be gone!)
But of course, the good news is that everything changes…and there will eventually be renewal from whatever difficulty that may be present.
I’m so happy that some of the ideas helped you out today….Maybe you could go and spend some time by the river? It sounds like such a beautiful and comforting spot.
Have you seen the “Something Rotten” booklet?…I made that in the midst of watching family members dealing with difficulties and feeling helpless to change things http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCaH9g8dkMI&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
I wish you well…. : )
And…I just remembered another booklet about that idea…it’s about the progression of the process: from a disruption to the disorganization to the reorganization I made that one when I was in the midst of something too…it helped me have more perspective. I just realized..it has the process of “arise….abide…dissolve” in it..just different terminology… oh my goodness..I put in the link and the actual youtube appeared! That’s never happened! wow….strange! maybe it wants to be seen?
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Oh my…look what I just found…I saw them on the site of The tale of my heart http://justsimplyinlove.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/saturday-brain-status/comment-page-1/#comment-598
I added them to the sidebar to the right….so….sparklety!!! : ) (there’s a reason I teach elementary school…to be around others who unabashedly appreciate sparkle! : ) )
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8) ***CONGRATIULATIONS*** 8)
If you hadn’t received the award already, you would be on my list 🙂
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: ) And congratulations right back to you too…I would have sent it your way too. : )
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