I was driving in the car with my two children. Out of nowhere my son asked, “Mom, what’s the strongest emotion?” It took me a minute to process the question and I asked, “Do you mean emotions like joy, fear, anger, happiness…” And as I was speaking my daughter interrupted with “it’s love, it has to be love.”
From a child’s perspective, the answer is clear. In light of recent national and global events, there is so much hatred and fear in the world right now that I’m not sure how we can get back to love. Maybe the key is to approach life with the eyes of a child.
Music, poetry, mindfulness, and mediation can play an important role in focusing on love. Study after study has shown that people can change. Hearts can open, and love can conquer hate. Mindfulness and meditation play an important role in building the capacity to see and respond to suffering.
Here is a six step process from Everyday Mindfulness for mindfully dealing with difficult emotions that I have found helpful and we can learn to turn our difficult emotions into our greatest teachers.