letting go of positive / negative

Hello beautiful souls,
I ask the question, but it really has nothing to do with whether you have a degree, a certificate of achievement, or any kind of work experience.

I recently learned that in both Sanskrit and Pali language there is no equivalent to the labels of positive or negative.

In regards to our emotions, thoughts, behaviors labeling something as either a positive or negative can be so subtle that we may not be aware that we’re doing it.

Left unexamined this way of thinking can fuel a vigorous inner critic. If we deem something we have done as being negative we can be quite harsh towards ourselves and even direct this harshness outwards.

But instead of labeling how we respond to situations in any given moment as positive or negative, we can think of it more livingly (that was a typo – I meant to type “lovingly” but actually, livingly is good)

… we can view it more livingly and lovingly as we are either skilled or not yet skilled in handling that particular situation or emotion.

Acknowledging times when our thoughts and actions show us that we are not yet skilled is an open door that we can enter if we choose to. We recognize that we handled it poorly but rather than being critical and feeling negative about it, we accept the fact that we are not yet skilled in that area.

Never stop learning, be thankful always and love

Say you lose patience with someone. Instead of automatically labeling impatience as a “negative” trait, we can instead say to ourselves, oh, I responded in a way that felt unloving and I can see that in that situation I wasnot yet skilled in being patient. And this creates an opening for us to

  • pause
  • see it as it is
  • let go of judgment
  • and aspire to learn how to become more skilled

With love to you, you are love,
Aesha

(Resource: Thank you to the teachings of Thich Naht Hanh and senior teacher Phap Hai for the perspective of skilled, not yet skilled)

Aesha Kennedy sign off