Thich Nhat Hahn (via www.stillwatermpc.org)
Inertia
Inertia of one’s emotions and thoughts is a real phenomenon. Once we get stuck in an emotion or in a thought, it can be hard to shake. Buddhists call it a “clinging.” Some blame the ego for the need to be right and the need to validate one’s own thoughts and/or emotions.
In these moments of inertia, however, damage to myself and to others is most likely to occur. I can easily lash out at myself or at others with anger and with a lack of compassion. And yet a releasing of the emotion, or a softening, or an acceptance of the thought or emotion - whichever works at the time - produces the absolute greatest clarity of my day. In these (rare) moments of clarity, the most important values of my life are the strongest. Almost immediately I remember my value of love, kindness, compassion, happiness, and laughter.
