avatarBeth Byfield

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ow would things sound if I stopped thinking?</li></ul><h2 id="9fa8">Somatic Field</h2><ul><li>Which part of my body is the least comfortable?</li><li>Which parts of my body are hardest to detect?</li><li>What happens when I concentrate on two body parts at once?</li><li>Do any bad emotions arise during the body scan?</li><li>How would my body change if I stopped thinking about it?</li></ul><h2 id="778a">Taste Field</h2><ul><li>Does the taste change as I roll it around my tongue?</li><li>How does the intensity compare with other things I have tasted?</li><li>How would it taste if I had never smelled it?</li><li>Does my feeling about the taste change between first contact and swallow?</li><li>How would it taste if I were asleep right now?</li></ul><h2 id="a87c">Olfactory Field</h2><ul><li>Would I recognize the smell if I had not seen it?</li><li>What adjectives are suitable? (Smooth? Bold? Sweet? Floral?)</li><li>How close must it come to me before my nose can detect it?</li><li>Does it improve my mood or worsen it?</li><li>What memories does it bring to mind?</li></ul><h2 id="5631">Cognitive Field</h2><ul><li>If my thoughts were rabbits in a yard, how crowded would the yard be?</li><li>If my attention was a dog, which rabbits would it chase?</li><li>How much of my focus three seconds ago was on the past?</li><li>How does a little circle make me feel?</li><li>What would I be dreaming now if I were not awake?</

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li></ul><h2 id="9690">Emotional Field</h2><ul><li>How easy or hard is it to turn each feeling on and off?</li><li>What changes will happen when I start to pray?</li><li>If I were the prow of a ship would my sea be bright under the sun?</li><li>Who have I shared this suffering with?</li><li>How deeply do I love you?</li></ul><figure id="ef74"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*31vXTbzWPAdDxN72iuu31w.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by Author | Dancing with the Goddess</figcaption></figure><h2 id="1f17">Questions After the Scans are All Finished</h2><ul><li>Did I close my eyes for most of the scans?</li><li>In what ways are mental fields like maps?</li><li>If I were only allowed to keep one field, which one would I choose?</li></ul><h1 id="010c">Note</h1><p id="4022">To the best of my recollection, all the questions are in my own words. If I copied anybody from unconscious memory it was probably my first remote meditation teacher, <a href="https://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/mark-w-muesse/">Mark Muesse</a>, a Therevada practitioner from Texas.</p><h1 id="d3c3">About the Author</h1><p id="f104">Tom spends his workdays asking people in a big store if they would like any information about heating and cooling. He often wears an Indiana Jones hat. A grapevine in his front yard convinced him to let her live and to even provide her with a little support. That’s all. :)</p></article></body>

Emotions Are the Purest Form of Art

We are all made artists by our feelings, willing or not

Photo by Enzo Tommasi on Unsplash

The artistic expression lies in conveying emotion — Angel Haze

Emotions are responsible for every piece of art that has ever been created. Every person who has picked up a paintbrush or a pen has done so because they felt something, excitement, sadness, confusion — even numbness. They wanted to capture that feeling or share it.

But how can you catch something that can’t be caught because it doesn’t have a physical substance, even though it can trigger physical symptoms? Feelings can cause changes in blood pressure, sweaty, and nausea, without anything physical touching you.

Songs can cause our eyes to well up with tears and make us feel heartache all over again, or invoke feelings of joy and warmth. That’s powerful!

The raw emotions that well up inside of us are the truest expressions of our souls. Some try to transfer those feelings onto canvas, stone, paper, or some other material. But part of the essence is always lost in translation because it is not the original.

Only the person in whom the emotion exists can fully know and understand that exact feeling and experience. Because every person feels things differently. The stages of grief are universal, but not everyone feels them in the same way, or for the same amount of time.

We try to share the magnitude of the feeling welling up inside of us, but we can only make a copy and hope that the audience catches the idea of what we are trying to share with them.

We are constantly showcasing our creations with the bush stroke of a smile, the narrowing of an eye, the arch of a brow, even if we don’t realize it. I’ve been told that my face is very expressive. I didn’t think I showed that much emotion, but apparently, I do. (I guess I need to work on my poker face.)

We were created to be expressive beings. Think about what happens when people try to hide their feelings or suppress them and try not to feel. It causes problems in their well-being, relationships, and even their health.

We may not all create physical masterpieces of art, but we were all given the tools to portray those parts of us that come from our very souls and connect us to each other.

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Self-awareness
Mental Health
Creativity
Human Behavior
Emotions
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