Try free for 7 days.

Mindfulness.com
Meditation
See all Meditation

Browse

Top articles

How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners

10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation

What is Meditation?

Mindful LivingSleep
Community

Already have an account?

Sign in

00:00

00:00

Mastering Your Emotions

Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:

Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today we're going to explore the idea of emotional mastery. So I think it's really common to think of some emotions as being bad and other emotions as being good. And the thinking that follows is that we should only be having the good ones and we want to push the bad ones away. The ones like sadness.

And we might even think that there's something wrong with us. If we're experiencing the so-called bad ones. So we really end up with this very polarized view of our emotions, you know, chasing the good ones, pushing the bad ones. But I invite you to consider an old quote by Shakespeare. He said, "There's nothing either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so." And what he's pointing to here is this possibility of experiencing things, in this case, our emotions, without any judgment.

And this reminds me of what our really wonderful mindfulness teacher once told me. She described emotions as just body sensations with a mental label on top. I love the simplicity of that. So if we take the time to really explore the experience of sadness, instead of trying to push it away, we can start to experience it quite intimately and understand it better. We can see for instance, that it's fleeting and transient in nature, we can listen to it and see if it has anything to teach or show us, and we can make peace with sadness.

And if we really take the time to explore happiness, when it arises, we can feel it as sensations in the body. We can notice its transient nature and we can understand and learn from it too. And we can begin to see that no matter how much we chase this particular emotion, it will arise and pass just like all emotions. and so we can come to see that these emotions, they're actually not that different from each other at all. They're like two sides of the same coin.

And true inner peace arises when we're equally at ease, no matter what arises in the mind. And when we let go of these ideas of good and bad and simply abide in the calm that's of awareness, letting whatever emotions come and go in their own time. The more we're able to do that to just abide in awareness, the more that a deepest source of fulfillment emerges and starts to flow through every moment and every aspect of our lives. So as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us. And now let's settle in for today's meditation.

Melli O'Brien

4.7

Mastering Your Emotions

Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:

Duration

Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.

Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today we're going to explore the idea of emotional mastery. So I think it's really common to think of some emotions as being bad and other emotions as being good. And the thinking that follows is that we should only be having the good ones and we want to push the bad ones away. The ones like sadness.

And we might even think that there's something wrong with us. If we're experiencing the so-called bad ones. So we really end up with this very polarized view of our emotions, you know, chasing the good ones, pushing the bad ones. But I invite you to consider an old quote by Shakespeare. He said, "There's nothing either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so." And what he's pointing to here is this possibility of experiencing things, in this case, our emotions, without any judgment.

And this reminds me of what our really wonderful mindfulness teacher once told me. She described emotions as just body sensations with a mental label on top. I love the simplicity of that. So if we take the time to really explore the experience of sadness, instead of trying to push it away, we can start to experience it quite intimately and understand it better. We can see for instance, that it's fleeting and transient in nature, we can listen to it and see if it has anything to teach or show us, and we can make peace with sadness.

And if we really take the time to explore happiness, when it arises, we can feel it as sensations in the body. We can notice its transient nature and we can understand and learn from it too. And we can begin to see that no matter how much we chase this particular emotion, it will arise and pass just like all emotions. and so we can come to see that these emotions, they're actually not that different from each other at all. They're like two sides of the same coin.

And true inner peace arises when we're equally at ease, no matter what arises in the mind. And when we let go of these ideas of good and bad and simply abide in the calm that's of awareness, letting whatever emotions come and go in their own time. The more we're able to do that to just abide in awareness, the more that a deepest source of fulfillment emerges and starts to flow through every moment and every aspect of our lives. So as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us. And now let's settle in for today's meditation.

Melli O'Brien

4.7

Duration

Play in-app

Scan the following QR code with your camera app to open it on our mobile app

Get Unlimited Access

Start your mindfulness journey today.

A Mindfulness Plus+ subscription gives you unlimited access to a world of premium mindfulness content.

  • Over 1,800 meditations, sleep, calm music, naturescapes and more
  • Daily mindfulness video meditations 365 days a year
  • 100s of courses and tools to help manage anxiety, sleep and stress

Join our free newsletter

Discover exclusive events, first access to new features, community stories, and a monthly curation of our best mindfulness insights.

By continuing, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Email Missing

We couldn’t detect your email with the SSO provider you have selected.
or

Mindfulness Guarantee

We are here to make a positive impact on the world. We never want to sell you something that hasn’t helped you live a better life. That’s why if you’re unhappy with any purchase from us, you have 30 days to get a full refund and your money back.

If you subscribed to Mindfulness Plus+ and are unhappy with your purchase, please get in contact with us within the 30-day period and we’ll refund your purchase.


Learn more about our Mindfulness Guarantee.

Mindfulness

Bring balance into your everyday life.

We believe in a world where everybody has access to the life-changing skills of mindfulness.

  • 2,000+ Guided Meditations
  • Daily Coaching
  • Sleep Content
  • Mindful Exercises
  • Mindful Radio
  • 10+ Courses from world-class teachers

Private Browsing

Added to your cart!

Checkout

Thank you for joining us

Dive into the full library and enjoy all it has to offer!

Claim your free access

Create a mindfulness account and we’ll unlock this premium session in your account forever.

or continue with
By continuing, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Do you already have an account?

Start a free trial to play this session

7-Days free trial, cancel anytime.

Finish personalizing your account

Complete a few quick questions to make your own personalized mindfulness plan.

Sign up or login to your mindfulness account to proceed.

or continue with
By continuing, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Do you already have an account?

Mindfulness

One membership to gain access to a world of premium mindfulness content created to help you live happier and stress less.

  • 2000+ Guided Meditations
  • Courses from world-class teachers
  • Resources for Stress + Anxiety
  • Breathing exercises, gratitude practices, relaxation techniques
  • Sleep meditations, playlists, stories
  • Mindful talks, podcasts, music, nature sounds