Lover.
Have you ever seen one of those cartoons, of the character lost in a desert, he sees a sign, crawls up to it and all that sign says is "You Are Here!" and one of a variety of symbols are over his head ? ! * or perhaps the thought 'well duh!'
I think for many that describes their first experiences with the feeling exercise.
It might help to have an explanation of what it is intended to help you do that may make it easier to understand the point of letting go of the labels and just noticing. Most importantly, simply noticing without judgement.
One of the first answers we learned and gave our parents as small children to explain our actions was 'because I feel like it'. It's also an answer our parents probably gave us when they didn't want to go into long explanation why they wanted us to do something. We probably use it ourselves from time to time when we want to circumvent the need to explain simply because of how we feel.
We are feeling being and even the ability to label our emotions, happy, sad, angry, frustrated, etc as well as our ability to label body sensation, hot, cold, itchy, shivering, flushed, puffed etc... how do we do that? What tells us we are any of those things? Our feelings but we never stop to experience them 'as they are'.
When we are doing the feeling exercise all that we are really doing is returning ourselves to the here and now and ultimately back to our true source, without the projections that we usually associate to the label, the sense of what are you going to do about. E.g. Label 'Angry' mental reaction is along the line of what are you going to do about it.. let off steam, break something, get into a fight, get even, put a lid on it.
Label itching, got to do something to stop it...
When you do the feeling exercise you let go of the labels "as best you can" and then just notice the feeling and how your body is responding to that emotional feeling, scan the body notice where it's tense, where it's relaxed, notice also as you get deeper into the feeling you notice vibrations (if you don't yet that's fine your doing the exercise to get to the point of noticing it). Or if it's a physical feeling... notice the emotional response.
It helps if you let go of judgements about the feeling... e.g "as a great lethargy" is not only a label it's a judgement about the feeling in the sense of the feeling I'm now having is not the right one, I should be feeling vibration and yet I'm feeling a stillness like...
So the first step is to let go of judgement about the feeling, whether you're doing it right or not, what you should be experiencing etc, I know the exercise says to feel it free of any thought but I think it might be better understood if you feel the feeling free of any judgements about the feeling. How do we do that?
First,How do we judge, or think (have thoughts) about something in the first place? We mentally compare, analyse right/wrong good/bad same/different should/shouldn't okay/not okay, leave it/ change it... either or thinking.
In order to be free of thoughts about it we have to do the opposite of judging or having thoughts about it and mentally just "shut up" and view the show. That is to be here now with the feeling, perhaps as in yep right now I'm having a feeling and then just notice.
Step 2 is the one that will throw us into a loop because really it's a paradox... "feel love for the feeling"... Love is a label for a feeling. So the how to????
Consider what love is, acceptance of ... just the way it is, gratitude for ... being there as it is , compassion for ...just as it is, aprreciation for ... exactly as it is. Yep I know they are all labels trying to describe the feeling of being okay with something just the way it is.
What does all this do? It returns us to the now moment without projections to past or future but to nows where our true power really lies... right here right now with whatever you are feeling.
Problem with explaining it in words... we judge and if we feel we are not matching that judgement we make try to change something so that we can pretend that we are doing it right.
The fact of the matter is, there is no right or wrong it's a way to help you experience for yourself a personal truth.
All you really need to do is do the feeling exercise often. Then you can know for yourself what many inspirational writers use so many words to explain and yet the experience to experience it for yourself takes but a moment.
If you can just 'be in the experience'. To try and analyse the experience while you are doing it, takes you right out of the experience.' When you are just in the experience and experiencing it without analysis or judgement. Then you will know who is the judge and who is the executioner.
Alex
[This message has been edited by Alex K. Viefhaus (edited June 19, 2004).]