"When you have neither anger nor joy,

Your energy is harmonious;

Responding to events, according to situations,

Wind follows the clouds."

~Tan Guangzhen

A life lived in response to our true nature is light as wind, able to move in all directions. Until then, we are controlled by our emotions. Tan Guangzhen isn't saying that feeling anger and joy are negative. What she is saying is that if we are controlled by our emotions then we're subject to upheavals. Our energy will go up and down depending on our emotions.

Any strong emotion, whether anger or joy, disturbs the equilibrium. It throws us off-center. We may have an easier time understanding how anger throws us off-balance, yet excessive joy can also throw us off-balance. If our experience of joy is solely related to outside circumstances, then we will try to hold on to those circumstances. In so doing we will have strengthened our compulsive behavior and when circumstances change, as they always do, the joy will leave us also.

We need to learn to enjoy ourselves calmly so that when something unpleasant happens, we also remain calm. When we are living in a state of harmony, there is joy. It is the joy that comes from within; it arises naturally, when there is no conflict in the mind. Then, whether the circumstances of our lives are going well or poorly, we can be calm and happy. In Buddhism this state is referred to as "calm abiding joy."

~By Diane Mariechild