Traffic noise. Noxious odour. Uncomfortable accommodation. If we keep on encountering these things, we get used to them. We even start to miss them if they go away. We feel strangely ill at ease in their absence because we have spent so long cultivating psychological filters. The ability to reduce our awareness level becomes an intricate part of our personality. We use the same inner-resource to block out emotional angst. Something seems to be missing from your life now. Whatever it is, you don't need it.
In the days before text and email, people had phone trees. One person would call someone else with a message. They, in turn, would phone a couple more people. Each of those would phone someone else. All very good in theory - but, of course, the more a statement gets repeated, the more likely it is that it will grow and evolve until it takes on a meaning quite unlike the original phrase. What can go wrong for you in your emotional life now? Nothing, unless you fail to properly hear what someone wants to tell you.
'When love beckons to you, follow him / Though his ways are hard and steep. / And when his wings enfold you, yield to him, / Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.' So said Kahlil Gribran in his great work The Prophet. Love is not always easy. Or sweet. Or simple. That is, of course, no reason to close off to it - but it may explain why those with open hearts sometimes experience pain as well as joy. Memories of recent stress now make you suspect that little joy awaits you now. Not so.
These days, every household device, it seems, has to have a remote control. Then there are cell phones, portable game consoles, mp3 players and the hand-held TVs. Without them, would our lives be meaningless? Once upon a time, no such things existed. Now, we can't move for them and look how much happier we are... er... aren't we? You can't just push a button to get what you want in your emotional life now, and that's just as well because, even if you could, you wouldn't want it. You need to work at what you need.
In the days before text and email, people had phone trees. One person would call someone else with a message. They, in turn, would phone a couple more people. Each of those would phone someone else. All very good in theory - but, of course, the more a statement gets repeated, the more likely it is that it will grow and evolve until it takes on a meaning quite unlike the original phrase. What can go wrong for you in your emotional life now? Nothing, unless you fail to properly hear what someone wants to tell you.
'When love beckons to you, follow him / Though his ways are hard and steep. / And when his wings enfold you, yield to him, / Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.' So said Kahlil Gribran in his great work The Prophet. Love is not always easy. Or sweet. Or simple. That is, of course, no reason to close off to it - but it may explain why those with open hearts sometimes experience pain as well as joy. Memories of recent stress now make you suspect that little joy awaits you now. Not so.
These days, every household device, it seems, has to have a remote control. Then there are cell phones, portable game consoles, mp3 players and the hand-held TVs. Without them, would our lives be meaningless? Once upon a time, no such things existed. Now, we can't move for them and look how much happier we are... er... aren't we? You can't just push a button to get what you want in your emotional life now, and that's just as well because, even if you could, you wouldn't want it. You need to work at what you need.
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