Emotional Wisdom

(New World Library, 2009)

Emotional Wisdom

We are emotional creatures that’s pretty much a given. The problem isn’t our emotions but rather how we deal, or even worse, ignore them say the authors of Emotional Wisdom, Mantak Chia, a Taoist teacher, and Dena Saxer, a Senior Instructor in Taoism. The authors write, “we’re taught to reject [our emotions]and by silencing our natural responses to negative emotions, we silence our natural responses to the positive emotions as well.” Essentially, by distancing, or covering up our negative emotions we lose the opportunity to learn from them, and to truly radiate in the joy that comes with positive feelings.

Since negative emotions are not going to go away, nor should they, the authors offer several Taoist exercises to help release negative feelings in order to evolve. The exercises aren’t long either; many can be finished in less than 20 minutes. In addition, they discuss where negative emotions are stored (i.e. sadness is housed in our lungs and large intestine), and the right exercises, foods, and colors to help “move” the negative energies. While Taoism isn’t something you can quickly learn, this book allows even the novice to understand how emotions affect the physical and energetic bodies, and more importantly, how to keep things moving, not allowing negativity to dwell or hide. ($14.95)

M.B.W.