Tag Archives: emotion

Lament 3 [感遇三] by Zhang Jiuling [张九龄] [w/ Audio]

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Alone, the hermit returns home to sleep.
 He's cleansed of cares by way of solitude.
 He gives thanks and praise to the geese on high
 For lifting feelings to grand altitude.
 Day or night, his mind holds no intentions,
 Who can sense his energy, so subdued?
 His flight and submergence self-limited,
 Where can he find calm, and still be renewed?

This is the third poem in 300 Tang Poems [唐诗三百首] as well as the third of a quartet of poems entitled Gǎn Yù [感遇] that open the collection. The original in Simplified Chinese is:

幽人归独卧， 滞虑洗孤清。
持此谢高鸟， 因之传远情。
日夕怀空意， 人谁感至精？
飞沉理自隔， 何所慰吾诚？

River Vision [Free Verse]

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in a flat, wide river:
   something juts up
   from the water --
   far in the distance

for an instant,
   i startle:
   seeing it as an
   extended arm...

like that Stevie Smith
   poem, but i discover
   it's neither waving,
   nor drowning, but 
   merely protruding...

a dead limb
   stuck in the river,
   drag & pull balanced,
   waiting to be 
   carried away.

“Autumn Within” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]

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It is autumn; not without,
   But within me is the cold.
 Youth and spring are all about;
   It is I that have grown old.

Birds are darting through the air,
   Singing, building without rest;
 Life is stirring everywhere,
   Save within my lonely breast.

There is silence: the dead leaves
   Fall and rustle and are still;
 Beats no flail upon the sheaves
   Comes no murmur from the mill.

PROMPT: High School

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Daily writing prompt
Describe something you learned in high school.
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A psychology teacher taught us about what he called “the gestalt of expectations.” It’s when one builds an alternative reality in one’s mind (typically a worst-case scenario) and then one acts as though it is a reality, when – in fact – it is not. (Though sometimes it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy situation, which — of course — triggers selection bias in people of the unexamined life.)

It was my introduction to what I would come to know as the most fundamental insight of human existence — i.e. that one’s experience of the world is not the world itself, and while one has minimal influence over the latter, one can have tremendous influence over the former. One can even train oneself to perceive difficulties and sorrows as learning and growth opportunities.

“Spring Thoughts” by Li Bai [w/ Audio]

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Yan grass shimmers like silken jade.
 Qin mulberry trees' green leaves droop.
 Your homecoming is now at hand
 As heartbreak has me thin and stooped.
 Spring Winds and I are strangers --
 Why, past my curtains, the inward swoop?

Chinese Title: 春思; Original poem in Simplified Chinese:

燕草如碧丝， 秦桑低绿枝；
当君怀归日， 是妾断肠时。 
春风不相识， 何事入罗帏？

Note: this is poem #7 in “300 Tang Poems” [唐诗三百首]

PROMPT: Secret Skill

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Daily writing prompt
What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?
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Mind control. I can control my mind with my mind.

[NOTE: I’m not sure what “secret” has to do with it. Anything one blabs across the internet is — by definition — not a secret. Though the skill I mention takes place in a purely subjective realm, so — in that sense — might remain unknown to the general public.]

PROMPT: Confident

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Daily writing prompt
Who is the most confident person you know?
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I don’t think that’s a question I can meaningfully answer. I think each person has more confidence and courage in some dimensions of life than in others. A given observer tends to see the person who is the most confident in the areas in which that observer is least confident and think of that person as the most confident — when that person might be quite lacking in confidence in areas to which the observer isn’t being attentive.

It was eye opening to read about Audie Murphy, a man who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for single-handedly taking on a unit of Nazis, a man who had a successful career in film, but also a man who was said to have been tremendously shy and awkward around strangers. It would be all in the context in which one saw Murphy that might make one think he was the most or least confident person around.

Quite frankly, the person who appears the most confident in all aspects of life is probably also the most full of shit.

PROMPT: Negative Feelings

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Daily writing prompt
What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?
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Feel them, but don’t feed them. By that I mean take time to be aware of the feelings, but do not let the mind go into its default mode of fixation upon the object informing these sensations and worst-case scenario building. Give the feelings your attention but recognize that you influence your experience of the world and don’t give the mind free reign to build an illusory scenario that it accepts as its reality. (i.e. Remember what Mark Twain said, “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”)

The biggest problem with negative feelings is that the go-to modern strategy is attempted distraction (by vice, by entertainment, by activity, etc.) this leads the body to turn up the heat. If you give the sensations your attention without adding value judgements, it becomes impossible to obsess. For yoga practitioners who’ve done Yoga Nidra (Yogic sleep) the experience will be familiar. One often begins by being attentive to sounds, by giving the sounds attention without judgement, your mind starts to lose interest and it becomes harder for those sounds to distract you throughout the practice. This approach to negative feelings is much the same.

Also, breathwork that extends the exhalation component of breath will shift the balance toward rest and digest activity.

Ultimately, realize that these feelings are just sensations your body and brain use to turn your attention in certain directions. They have no more power than that, other than what one grants them. They are not identical to — or inextricably linked with — the events of the world that triggered them, and — therefore — you get to be the master of, and not the slave to, your feelings.

The next time you find yourself getting bogged down by a negative feeling, give the feeling a minute or two of pure undivided attention, and then think, “This is a wonderful opportunity to learn how my body and mind work.” See what happens.

Let it Float [Lyric Poem]

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Sans fear of dying,
 The angst of trying
   Is felt and left
      To float.

“Sorrow” by Edna St. Vincent Millay [w/ Audio]

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Sorrow like a ceaseless rain
   Beats upon my heart.
 People twist and scream in pain, --
   Dawn will find them still again;
 This has neither wax nor wane,
   Neither stop nor start.

People dress and go to town;
   I sit in my chair.
 All my thoughts are slow and brown:
   Standing up or sitting down
   Little matters, or what gown
      Or what shoes I wear.