Emotional and Pain Apartment

It was recently brought to my attention that I own a LOT of emotions and pain.  My initial reaction was "don't we all?  Isn't that what being human is about?"  Turns out, I was wrong.  Changing our language changes our perceptions.  Yes, it is something that I already knew but I wasn't always practicing.  I also have learned that mindful practicing works best.  We live many aspects of our life on autopilot and paying attention turns out to be a good thing.

Let me give you some simple examples of what I mean: referring to 'the pain' instead of 'my pain'.  It makes it easier to envision it passing through me and not taking up residence.  I have felt that it has lived in me for years and by imagining the pain as having an apartment outside of me and just visiting, it has helped me in the middle of the night when no one is around and there are no pain meds.  I envision sending the pain in a taxi back to the apartment.  I keep breathing and trying to breathe it out of me. I used to catch myself holding my breath when the pain was really intense and the lack of oxygen cannot be helpful.

There are a million examples I could give about our language usage that changes relationships and perceptions - most of which you probably already know.  The question is: are you practicing healing, peace and love or do you just know it?

I am guilty of taking on an emotion with my language instead of allowing it to be a passing feeling.  I usually say, I am so frustrated, angry, sad etc.  If  I would practice saying, " I feel so frustrated, angry, sad, etc." it would make it an emotion that is passing and one that I am not owning or keeping.  It is the apartment idea.  I only want things living in me that are happy, healthy, loving and peaceful.  The rest of it can live at the apartment.  Why do I need to have those emotions and feelings live with me?  They are easily accessible (they never sleep, have no friends and usually just sit around the apartment waiting for my call) and taking them out of my residence means that I have more room for those that I want to live in me.  Patience, tolerance, love, peace, health, joy, gratitude...