INTEGRAL LIFE IS A BANQUET FOR SOMEONE WHOSE CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE IS EMOTIONAL DISCHARGE

The mind loves stimulation.  Thinking brings joy.  Integral Life is a banquet.///Emotional discharge is my contemplative practice...that is, I and at least one partner take equal-length turns providing one another with mostly silent, patient, dedicated/focused attention.  That attention that we offer one another greases the wheels of emotion, thought, memory, and imagery.  Whatever emotions arise we eagerly experience as fully as possible (which requires laughing/crying and occasionally raging). Endorphins dilute the "pain" if there is pain; we are often left amazedly thinking, "Nothing is wasted.  No experience is wasted."   We "cling" to every thought, idea, word, etc. that seems to trigger emotion so that we can squeeze every bit of emotional discharge out of that trigger before we allow our minds/brains to move on to another emotionally evocative "object."  We end up nearly anywhere.  During emotional discharge our brains heal past hurts, sort and analyze information, retrieve information we'd "lost," and generate new ideas. Our energy levels increase dramatically.  Passion for knowledge, for using the mind, intensifies.  So does the desire to communicate with others. Mirror neurons go wild...empathy and compassion surge.  You "follow your brain:...your brain is your most reliable, dependable guru.  You become skillful at using attention to activate emotion.  Ah...my joyful practice: emotional discharge.  Because of the curiosity it fuels, I began to read and subsequently fell in love with integral theory.  As I educate myself, I hope to find others who either presently practice emotional discharge or are curious as to how to begin such a practice.