Sticky emotions.

Do you remember these toys?

They were little, colourful, sticky spiders called ‘Wacky Wall-Walkers’.

At home, my brother and I spent hours playing with them.

The aim was to throw our sticky spider against the wall, where it would stick, and then, gently its legs would start to peel away, making it look as though it was slowly walking down the wall.

We’d throw them as high as we could and watch them “race” to see whose spider won.

The important part here is that there was nothing we could do to help this process along. We’d simply have to watch our spider slowly but surely unpeel and unstick, before moving gently down the wall.

Sometimes it would stop moving and then we’d have to wait for it to start again. Other times it would move a little faster.

If we tried to get involved in this process by touching or moving the spider, it would either stick to our fingers or fall to the ground.

It has occurred to me that this is a great example of dealing with sticky emotions.

Because, you see, emotions arise and eventually fall away. Some may stick around for quite some time, while others may move more swiftly. But the important part is that trying to get involved in the process is fruitless and actually causes further disturbance.

We have to allow this natural process to happen and, importantly, recognise that it does this in its own time. Eventually, the emotions decline.

Accepting that both the process and the timing is completely out of our hands.

The process of dealing with emotions is, in fact, one of non-doing ~ rather, it is a complete acceptance and simple witnessing.

Allowing the ‘process to be out of our hands… Because it is!

(This is the process for all emotions, whether anger or overwhelm… and even the fear of spiders!)

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