When I disown a feeling I do not destroy it, I only forfeit my capacity to act it out as I wish. Even to think guiltily or irritatedly about a feeling merely strengthens its hold on my mind. Yet regardless of the state I am in, I am always free to draw upon my reserves of stillness and peace, and whenever I do, the inner shift is subtle but profound: I become peacefully depressed, peacefully fearful, peacefully angry. And whereas the effect of my mood before was to pull others down with me, now I leave the world uncontaminated.
