This beautiful post by Leo Babauta ‘The Beautiful and Scary Practice of Moving Closer‘ reminds us that when we are under stress we tend to close our hearts and this creates damage in our relationships.
“The sad effect of these habitual reactions [to stress] is that they move us further away from others, and from the direct experience of the moment.” and this has many consequences: “Closing our hearts to others and creating distance from them out of habitual reaction to stress is the heart of aggression, violence and pain.” This in turn creates deep unhappiness.
I fully concur with this observation as under stress I tend to turn inward to myself and cut out relationship with others.
Leo Babauta goes on to propose to be more mindful in our reaction to others in particular when stress is involved. And make the effort to move closer rather to move further away. That’s tough for sure, but I will try it out. “It’s an incredibly beautiful practice. And yes, it’s filled with shakiness. That makes it even more courageous“
I am not sure I will be able to overcome instant emotional reactions, still it is worth trying, don’t you think?
