Good morning friends
Last month, we were expecting a very important guest’s visit to our home. And as this guest was visiting us for the first time, we wanted our home to look clean and beautiful. And so started a frenzy of cleaning the house. I am sure most of you have gone through this sort of experience many times. We are galvanised into the cleaning activity whenever we expect someone to come over. Otherwise, we are comfortable in the homely untidiness! ( except for the few souls who are obsessive about cleanliness and tidiness ! ). This time, we initially thought that we would really give this business our best shot and get rid of the unnecessary garbage that we keep collecting as time passes. But as always happens, we were also caught up in many other things and didn’t have time enough to do this. So, in the last 2-3 days, we decided to focus only on the external appearance and take up the root cleaning some other time. Obviously, as everyone knows, this means that we pushed things into cupboards and drawers and also on the attic. And by the time the guests arrived, our house looked clean and beautiful !
As I was going through this entire process, something struck me. Just as we had pushed unwanted stuff in places where it was not visible, don’t we do the same with our emotions and feelings ? Many times, we cannot openly express what we truly feel due to various reasons, and we push these feelings under the carpet…. And there they stay for a long time. Outwardly, we may put up a facade which is happy and beautiful but there are a lot of suppressed negative emotions like anger or hatred or jealousy or sadness lurking inside. Obviously, when we suppress anything too much, it’s bound to come out some time or the other and more often than not, when it comes out, it’s like a volcano erupting! This can create a lot of problems, harming our relationships with those who are the recipients of this volcanic eruption.
Just as we need to periodically clean our house and get rid of all the garbage and unnecessary stuff, shouldn’t we also clear the attic of our minds of these suppressed emotions? And it’s best if we can do this on a regular basis. The most effective method of getting this done is, of course, meditation. Some Osho meditations like the Dynamic Meditation can help catharsis and release of suppressed negative emotions. Meditation can also help us get in touch with our deepest fears and feelings. It’s easier to deal with this negativity once we are aware that we are harbouring so much negativity inside ourselves.
Hope that all of us can regularly clean out not only our homes but also our inner selves,
Love,
Anjali Bhatawdekar
