The Sekhem Goodbye Meditation: Feeling Anger Without Judgment

Sekhem Goodbye Meditation: Feeling Without Judgment

Blockages and resistances can keep us from the experience we are seeking. The goodbye meditation works with feeling. It is called the goodbye meditation because it involves saying many goodbyes.

Enter fully into the exercise, as though you are really playing the game. Its power is in feeling it. The intention is to feel something, to feel alive in your emotions, like a child.

There may be happy times and laughter. There may be sad times and tears. Anger may arise, and you may express it. Feeling alive and feeling these emotions are important parts of the meditation.

Do not judge your feelings or the feelings of others. This is very important. As soon as you begin judging a particular feeling, you block that feeling and create resistance within yourself.

Patrick’s example: “When I go on social media and look at what people are writing, it is amazing how much spiritual guidance is available. In the Bible, there is a prophecy that there will be many prophets. That is what is happening. Of course there will be prophets, because people are waking up.”

When the Mind Becomes Quiet

A continuous background sound can offer a useful analogy for the mind. While it runs, it may go unnoticed. When it suddenly stops, there is a sigh of relief.

Sharing: “A relief.”

This is what meditation can feel like when the mind becomes quiet. Before that moment, thoughts keep running: “I have to do this. I have to do that.” Then there is a settling into silence, and the difference can finally be felt.

A sound may have been running all day without attracting much attention. Only when it turns off does the response come: “Oh wow, that’s nice.” The mind can be like that. Its activity has become so familiar that the relief of silence is unexpected.

That experience may bring a new enthusiasm for meditation: “I like this. I want to get up at four in the morning and meditate every day now.” After this work, you may find yourself waking at that hour. If that happens, go ahead and meditate.

Anger and the Context of Expression

Returning to the question of judging feelings, spiritual advice often divides emotions into positive and negative categories. There are many people offering such guidance. The distinction between having a feeling and directing it at someone needs careful attention.

Patrick’s story: “I remember reading lists that divided emotions into positive and negative. Once, I attended a series of Tibetan teachings where a senior spiritual leader was present. One of the teachers gave a lecture about anger.

“His whole lecture concerned being angry toward somebody. Of course, that can bring conflict and other difficulties. Afterward, I asked him, ‘Is it okay to express your anger in a healthy environment?’

“I meant an environment suitable for this work, or going out into a field and simply letting it out. That is something we would do in dynamic meditation.

“His response was, ‘Oh no, you never want to express anger, because if you do, you’ll come back as an animal.’ An animal! Really, animals can have a good day. But you see where I am going with this.”

A mentality that forbids the feeling itself can block the energy. There is a difference between anger directed toward another person, which can create conflict, and anger expressed in a healthy environment.

Patrick’s experience with Reiki: “I do not know whether the Reiki precepts have since been revised. My understanding is that the translations in the early stages did not exactly convey the original meaning. When I took Reiki, one of the precepts we were taught was, ‘Just for today, I won’t be angry.’”

Why be against anger itself? Anger can be a wonderful emotion. It needs to be understood in context.