Strong, impulsive emotions are often the ones we want to resist or run away from. The force can be overwhelming. But if we are able to penetrate our resistance, we are often able to wander through the intensity of the emotion as if we had passed through a dark forest to a flat prairie. Once we come to this open grassland, strong emotions often bloom for us. In fact, when you can honestly face all the emotions, you can come to this open grassland. Once my mood is so easy to fluctuate, often feel their changing and not practical. Therefore, I prefer to be alone, but when I am alone, I feel very lonely and can't wait to be back in the crowd. I often want to be alone and take a walk, but then I suddenly want to see a concert. Only after many years did I realize that when we are in one emotion, we are often led by another emotion. Just as the streams on the top of the mountain eventually merge into a river at the bottom of the mountain, all our emotions will eventually merge into a river, and our dried-out vitality desperately needs their nourishment and comfort. The pursuit of awakening brings us closer to the world, and we are uniquely sensitive and vulnerable. If we are lucky, our hearts become the skin we show. This is a mysterious gift and an amazing challenge, because it means that we can no longer be infected by life, no longer control how deeply we feel, no longer refuse to let our emotions open the doors of our hearts to open moments. Once we open our hearts to life, we are unable to face suffering and become numb, which is indeed a blessing that is not easy to accept. Medieval alchemists were dedicated to finding the sorcerer's stone, the legendary treasure that turns the Midas touch into gold. This kind of search is symbolic of the human need to control life rather than accept it, because they want to change the world they see into something else. In fact, the gold of life is hidden in iron ore and difficulties. Everything has its own precious value. We don't have to change one thing into another. Instead, we need to find the gold that's already there. Specifically, we need to find the gold in our own suffering, sifting through it over and over again with the sieve of our true feelings, finding the gold grains in each experience in their various forms. When we refuse to accept the truth and acknowledge our feelings, we are trying to turn something else into gold. This misdirection will lead us down the wrong path, delaying and wasting our precious time and energy. When we can accept the reality of life and fully feel our emotions, we will find the gold in everything and in ourselves, and we will be one step closer to discovering the truth of life. This attempt to change one thing into another is, to put it nicely, "operational resilience". This resilience taps into our instinct for creativity and adaptation, which is in itself our gift for creating the world. This ability to adapt is the essence of innovation, but if we don't accept things as they are, this creativity can turn into distortion. When we are fearful, we feel the urge to distort our view of the world, and our efforts become an escape. Addiction, in any form, is an extremely destructive attempt to change one substance into another.

It is a means by which we escape the essence of life and the fear of death. When taken to the extreme, drinking, having sex, pursuing success, going to the gym, or taking risks, all of these things are an effort to turn our fears into something else so we don't have to face them. Our "existential resilience" is waiting for us to stop and gently face the fact that we are all going to die. Mysteriously, it is in this face that life's most precious energy slowly blooms and reveals itself before us. Often when we try to change what we don't like or fear into something else, we miss out on the lessons and enlightenment we've been given and the opportunity to break out of our self-centeredness. When we avoid our true inner feelings out of fear and try to change reality into something else, we are isolated from the true vitality of life. A fish struggling in the current suddenly wakes up with no escape, but a sharp dive into the mysterious torrent. And a soul awakened in life has no place to go but to plunge wholeheartedly into the mysterious torrent of the day. In your journal, describe a time when you felt frustrated or sad. Instead of denying your frustration or sadness, or ignoring it, keep your mind and heart open and try to move beyond your frustration by describing other parts of your life that were less frustrating or sad at the time. Then, how does it feel to have two senses occupying your heart and mind at the same time?

Strong, impulsive emotions are often the ones we want to resist or run away from. The force can be overwhelming. But if we are able to penetrate our resistance, we are often able to wander through the intensity of the emotion as if we had passed through a dark forest to a flat prairie. Once we come to this open grassland, strong emotions often bloom for us. In fact, when you can honestly face all the emotions, you can come to this open grassland. Once my mood is so easy to fluctuate, often feel their changing and not practical. Therefore, I prefer to be alone, but when I am alone, I feel very lonely and can't wait to be back in the crowd. I often want to be alone and take a walk, but then I suddenly want to see a concert. Only after many years did I realize that when we are in one emotion, we are often led by another emotion. Just as the streams on the top of the mountain eventually merge into a river at the bottom of the mountain, all our emotions will eventually merge into a river, and our dried-out vitality desperately needs their nourishment and comfort. The pursuit of awakening brings us closer to the world, and we are uniquely sensitive and vulnerable. If we are lucky, our hearts become the skin we show. This is a mysterious gift and an amazing challenge, because it means that we can no longer be infected by life, no longer control how deeply we feel, no longer refuse to let our emotions open the doors of our hearts to open moments. Once we open our hearts to life, we are unable to face suffering and become numb, which is indeed a blessing that is not easy to accept. Medieval alchemists were dedicated to finding the sorcerer's stone, the legendary treasure that turns the Midas touch into gold. This kind of search is symbolic of the human need to control life rather than accept it, because they want to change the world they see into something else. In fact, the gold of life is hidden in iron ore and difficulties. Everything has its own precious value. We don't have to change one thing into another. Instead, we need to find the gold that's already there. Specifically, we need to find the gold in our own suffering, sifting through it over and over again with the sieve of our true feelings, finding the gold grains in each experience in their various forms. When we refuse to accept the truth and acknowledge our feelings, we are trying to turn something else into gold. This misdirection will lead us down the wrong path, delaying and wasting our precious time and energy. When we can accept the reality of life and fully feel our emotions, we will find the gold in everything and in ourselves, and we will be one step closer to discovering the truth of life. This attempt to change one thing into another is, to put it nicely, "operational resilience". This resilience taps into our instinct for creativity and adaptation, which is in itself our gift for creating the world. This ability to adapt is the essence of innovation, but if we don't accept things as they are, this creativity can turn into distortion. When we are fearful, we feel the urge to distort our view of the world, and our efforts become an escape. Addiction, in any form, is an extremely destructive attempt to change one substance into another.

It is a means by which we escape the essence of life and the fear of death. When taken to the extreme, drinking, having sex, pursuing success, going to the gym, or taking risks, all of these things are an effort to turn our fears into something else so we don't have to face them. Our "existential resilience" is waiting for us to stop and gently face the fact that we are all going to die. Mysteriously, it is in this face that life's most precious energy slowly blooms and reveals itself before us. Often when we try to change what we don't like or fear into something else, we miss out on the lessons and enlightenment we've been given and the opportunity to break out of our self-centeredness. When we avoid our true inner feelings out of fear and try to change reality into something else, we are isolated from the true vitality of life. A fish struggling in the current suddenly wakes up with no escape, but a sharp dive into the mysterious torrent. And a soul awakened in life has no place to go but to plunge wholeheartedly into the mysterious torrent of the day. In your journal, describe a time when you felt frustrated or sad. Instead of denying your frustration or sadness, or ignoring it, keep your mind and heart open and try to move beyond your frustration by describing other parts of your life that were less frustrating or sad at the time. Then, how does it feel to have two senses occupying your heart and mind at the same time?