Guard of the Heart

Thomas Keating recommends a practice he calls 'guard of the heart' as a way to note and release the emotions that weigh us down. When some particular 'darkness' --grief, anger, doubt--weighs in, he suggests three ways to deal with it.

1. Turn back to whatever we are doing.
2. Turn our attention to some other occupation.
3. Turn that feeling over to Christ.

I have tried to follow his advice by asking myself, for example: What prompted these tears, or this anger, or hurt, or desire? What do they connect to in me? Often I can identify a need for love, for security, for understanding. I pause just long enough to recall that God alone can fully meet that need or longing. Then as best I can I give those thoughts over to God and move on. So I pay attention to the feelings. Accept them. Let them go. And turn my attention to what comes next.

---Leighton Ford, The Attentive Life