In my life, most of my negative emotion has come from my own deliberate resentfulness: the manufacture and harbouring of grievances against others in the mistaken belief that if they were different I would be OK.
There are a few things that unavoidably cause a degree of distress, and where spiritual fitness will massively help but not necessarily eliminate the emotional cost.
There are a few things that unavoidably cause a degree of distress, and where spiritual fitness will massively help but not necessarily eliminate the emotional cost.
- Adjustment to changed circumstances: this will invariably be unsettling; the bigger the change, the harder the adjustment, even if the change is positive. Loss falls within this category
- Being in the presence of profound negativity: the impact can be blocked spiritually, but that effort itself takes a toll when one is acquiring the skill
- Compassion on observation of others' suffering: this is not only inevitable but desirable: it prompts right action; the trick is not to needlessly dwell
- Physical pain and other physical stresses: inevitably draining
- Unavoidable conflict: sometimes defence is necessary, and this can give the spiritual shields a battering
- Setting and maintaining boundaries: a lower form of conflict, but also wearing, particularly if guilt has not been dealt with
- Hormonal fluctuations and other medical imbalances (e.g. having a temperature): this will inevitably mess with your emotions
The good news is that if one is spiritually fit and has eliminated most other forms of ego-based upset, one has ample resources to handle these, and practice over time hones the skills of handling these situations with poise and minimum emotional cost.