Contemplative Monday

The following is from 'The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh' (click)

published by 'Shambhala Pocket Classics'.

WEATHERING STRONG EMOTIONS

"A strong emotion is like a storm.

If you look a tree in a storm, the top of the tree seems fragile,

like it may break at any moment.

You are afraid the storm might uproot the tree.

But if you turn your attention to the trunk of the tree,

you realize that its roots are deeply anchored in the ground,

and you see that the tree will be able to hold.

You too are a tree.

During a storm of emotion, you should not stay at the level of the head or the heart,

which are like the top of the tree.

You have to leave the heart, the eye of the storm, 

and come back to the trunk of the tree.

Your trunk is one centimeter below your navel.

Focus there, paying attention only to the movement of your abdomen,

and continue to breathe.

Then you will survive the storm of strong emotion."