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I set a timer for ten minutes. Set and sat. Sat and felt. Felt my emotions for ten minutes. Excruciating. Why?

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Because you decided you didn't like your emotions or that they shouldn't be there in some way.

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Hm. Some emotions are excruciating no matter the attitude you take towards them, IME.

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Perhaps. I am not great at letting bad emotions pass through without getting involved, so for me my point above is somewhat theoretical. But I believe that it is possible for 'bad' emotions to just pass through without second order judgement that would make them worse.

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I'm not sure we're disagreeing, here. My point is that some feelings cause quite the ruckus as they pass through, and can go on for quite a while. Whether or not you start engaging with it, it kind of sucks. Sometimes to the point of feeling excruciating. What do you think?

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Yes that's fair, I think it might depend on how you define excruciating. In theory even strongly negative emotions are just physical movements through the body, so I wonder if removing the judgement of 'bad' would.make them not excruciating.

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I don't know. I've stepped on a nail or grieved a loss enough times in my life to feel that this is somewhat underselling body sensations as a phenomenon.

4:12 PM · Apr 8, 2020Twitter Web App

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I do wonder though...

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This is always the macabre "gold standard" that pops into my mind as well. Whether or not it's the case that suffering (rather than pain) is *always* a matter of reactivity, I certainly haven't hit a limit to how much suffering can be relieved by traveling down that path.