Dealing With Your Emotions

This talk is about dealing with emotions from a Buddhist perspective. Ajahn Brahm points out that often people talk about negative emotions such as grief, anger, and fear, but positive emotions like inspiration, love, and compassion are also important. He mentions that emotions can be manipulated, as seen in movies and auctions, and shares a personal story about witnessing the calming of a distraught woman by a monk. The monk's calmness helped her gain perspective on her friend's suicide. The story says that the emotions that we feel are often created by our own thoughts and perceptions. The speaker gives examples of anger, fear, and grief and how they can be triggered and reinforced by our unskillful thinking. He encourages us to be more mindful and aware of our thoughts and to try to understand where our emotions come from.

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This dhamma talk was originally recorded using a low quality MP3 to save on file size on 1st June 2007. It has now been remastered and published by the Everyday Dhamma Network, and will be of interest to his many fans.

These talks by Ajahn Brahm have been recorded and made available for free distribution by the Buddhist Society of Western Australia under the Creative Commons licence. You can support the Buddhist Society of Western Australia by pledging your support via their Ko-fi page.