Seeing your mental process

Here's a little discussion about the impermance of thoughts and how not to give feelings unnecessary energy. It's by Dr. Thynn Thynn from her book, Living Meditation, Living Insight.

Thoughts and emotions by themselves are just momentary and possess no life of their own. By clinging to them, you prolong their stay.

Only when your mind is free from clinging and rejecting can it see anger as anger, desire as desire. As soon as you "see," your mental process is fully preoccupied with "seeing," and in that split second anger dies a natural death... This awareness brings new insight into life, new clarity and new spontaneity in action.

So, you see, meditation need not be separate from life and its daily ups and downs. If you are to experience peace in this everyday world, you need to watch, understand and deal with your anger, desire and ignorance as they occur. Only when you cease to be involved with your emotions can the peaceful nature of your mind emerge. This peace-nature enables you to live every moment of your life completely. With this newfound understanding and awareness, you can live as a complete individual with greater sensitivity. You will come to view life with new and fresh perceptions. Strangely enough, what you saw as problems before are problems no more.

I am impressed with the point that the emotions are momentary and have no life of their own. In other words, they derive life from the energy we give them. We actually can choose to withhold energy from difficult feelings and then they will dissolve on their own. It may take a while but if we let go of our attachment to instant gratification we will be able to wait without undue distress.