Dialectic Two-Step – How To Deal With Emotional Pain?

Dialectic Two-Step  is an ongoing series of my thoughts on questions that come my way.

Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. - Octavio Paz  

How Do You Deal With Emotional Pain?

You should deal with emotional pain carefully and not always with meditation.  When harm is in the equation, your natural instinct is to protect yourself.  Follow that instinct. 

Once you are safe, you want to assess whether you need help (medical or otherwise). 

When you’ve taken care to get adequate treatment, you can consider meditation as a long term approach to dealing with the emotions and aversions that accompany hurt. 
 
Sitting with your thoughts and noticing how they can be like the tail wagging the dog, can give you perspective on the source of the emotions and aversions. As you begin to recognize the fluid and ephemeral nature of these causes, you’ll recognize that they pass in the same way that they arise, and that you have choices about whether you need to engage those thoughts. 

I recommend finding someone who teaches meditation to practice with. You can certainly do it on your own, but it is often difficult to sustain a practice without the support of a group. 

 

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