Learning to Embrace Discomfort: On Journaling Aversion

I looked around the room, and there I saw him. Someone I had once worked with, a person who I felt had been purposefully difficult and disrespectful. I found myself thinking, “Ugh, why is he here?” And my immediate thoughts were not friendly or positive. Now, I understand, this was me experiencing aversion.

Specifically, because aversion involves pushing something away. And that act of pushing something away is not really gently setting something aside. It is more aggressive.

Fair enough, I know that my first thoughts at seeing this former colleague fell into the category of pushing something away aggressively – I really wished he was not at this same event with me.

 And with those thoughts came other forms of anger – because I recalled why I was not happy to see that person, and why I thought that he had been purposefully difficult and disrespectful. Clearly, I was hanging on to some hard feelings.