A rollercoaster can be fun

as long as it’s not an emotional one.

It happens all the time. We’re in the midst of one thought, when a very different one pops in. As it elbows its way to center stage, feelings absent mere seconds ago cascade in as well. In a flash, the new feelings—perhaps happiness, perhaps anxiety or sadness—expand and drive earlier feelings aside.

Riding this emotional rollercoaster, we finally remember that our feelings are transient. And, despite their insistence otherwise, they are actually not real. After all, the feelings weren’t even here a minute ago! Now we’re deliriously happy, or ridden with anxiety, or overwhelmed by sadness.

We need to summon up better thoughts—those of awareness, understanding, and control—and unplug the rollercoaster. What will we discover? A sense of peace and confidence, knowing that while we can take part in and appreciate life, we need not be overwhelmed by uncontrollable feelings.

We thus avoid that exhausting rollercoaster and, instead, glide contentedly through life.

All that we experience today . . .

When we jump to conclusions,

we invariably land in the wrong place.

Having taken my seat on the airplane, I noticed the interaction between the two people seated in front of me. Something they said made me smile. A smile that, unbeknownst to me, was noticed by the woman coming down the aisle.

“That’s right, laugh at me!”

The voice was plainly upset. Whoa, I said to myself. Turning immediately to the direction of the outburst, I saw a woman struggling with her carry-on bag and a seriously cumbersome personal item. I can only imagine that she was frustrated with—and embarrassed by—having to wrestle with her belongings in full view of those already seated.

My thoughts had been on the couple in front of me, but my smile was perceived as happening in regards to something very different. And so, a coincidental smile had left a harried fellow passenger steaming. In her awkward position along the narrow aisle, she quickly concluded that I was laughing at her. Which, sadly, only increased her misery.

Compassion is aspiring to help all beings.

Wisdom is knowing how to help.

If, when empathizing with other’s suffering, we feel overwhelmed, we may reassure ourselves that at least we’re being compassionate. But even with good intentions, when we fail to employ wisdom, our efforts to help will likely prove ineffective and lead to our feeling disappointed and frustrated.

What we ordinary beings have yet to realize and thus so far failed to remedy, is that we invariably act from emotions. Rather than from wisdom. Oh, what tangled webs of emotion we weave. They overwhelm us to the point that not only are we unable to help others, we make things worse.

We may have empathy, but can we help others in a substantial way?

Will they be any closer to ending their suffering?

In our practice, instead of reacting blindly from emotions, we need to temper our compassion with wisdom. When we do this, we can begin to truly ease not just our own suffering but that of others as well.

A rollercoaster can be fun 

as long as it’s not an emotional one.  

It happens all the time. We’re in the midst of one thought, when a very different one pops in. As it elbows its way to center stage, feelings absent mere seconds ago cascade in as well. In a flash, the new feelings—perhaps happiness, perhaps anxiety or sadness—expand and drive earlier feelings aside.

Riding this emotional rollercoaster, we finally remember that our feelings are transient. And, despite their insistence otherwise, they are actually not real. After all, the feelings weren’t even here a minute ago! Now we’re deliriously happy, or ridden with anxiety, or overwhelmed by sadness.

We need to summon up better thoughts—those of awareness, understanding, and control—and unplug the rollercoaster.

What will we discover? A sense of peace and confidence, knowing that while we can take part in and appreciate life, we need not be overwhelmed by uncontrollable feelings. We thus avoid that exhausting rollercoaster and, instead, glide contentedly through life.