The Inner Practice
Reflections on our energy and how we use it.
Written by Anna Scott.
How to Be With Emotions (Without Fixing Them)
I used to run from my emotions like I was running from a house on fire.
Fast. Urgent. Wanting to escape.
Yet no matter how far or how fast I went, they were still there.
If anything, they grew louder, more present, and harder to ignore.
More insistent.
More present.
Harder to ignore.
Until I learned something different.
What Emotions Are.
I have been fascinated with emotions for most of my life.
Not because I understood them—but because I wasn’t allowed to feel them.
When my father died, we were told we could not be sad. We were told to move on, to be strong, to shut it down. And what I came to understand, much later, is that you cannot shut down one emotion without shutting down all of them.
So I did.
And then I became interested.
The Hope Chest
My mother taught me not to feel. It took a lifetime — and my daughter — to unlearn it.
My father died when I was two.
My mother was left with six children. Five boys and one girl. Me. The youngest.
She did what she had to do. She kept the house running. She kept us fed. She kept moving forward.
Her motto was simple.
No one likes a whiner.
She Got on a Plane
This morning I spoke to a friend who is in Amsterdam.
After we hung up the phone, I noticed a strong feeling move through me. I checked in with my heart and stayed with what was there.
First came resentment. That she could travel. That she could get up and go while I feel stuck here. I recognized it immediately — that is a story, not a truth about my friend.
Underneath the resentment was jealousy. And the jealousy was useful — because it showed me what I actually wanted. To travel. That was real information.
But there was still no peace. Something else was underneath. So I stayed. Present with the feeling. Not following the story. Not making my friend wrong. Just staying.
Futile
I found myself inside an emotion I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t despair. It wasn’t fear. It was something new.
I wasn’t in touch with it. I had been avoiding it. My business has been in a season I didn’t expect — a long, humbling one. For a year and a half, I’ve been telling myself to stay open, stay trusting, stay generous. And still, nothing had shifted the way I thought it would.
The effort tasted thin in my mouth.
Energy Never Lies
✧ The Truth Beneath Our Words
It was 7:00 AM.
I was in line at the checkout, holding nothing more than tampons and Advil.
When it was my turn, the clerk smiled and asked,
“How are you?”
With my best smile, I replied,
“I’m fine.”
She looked me straight in the eye and said,
“You’re a liar.”
When I Left My Heart (and Found My Way Back)
Last Thursday morning, I asked my partner if he’d like to walk the Lafayette Reservoir with me.
He said he’d love to.
I love walking there early. The birds swoop through the willows.
Morning light shimmers on the water.
Hawks call out their presence across the open sky.
But as we walked, I could tell my partner was in a low mood.
Soon I began to regret inviting him.
Every time I said something, he shot back a snarky comment.
My agitation rose. I started blaming him—for ruining the peace I’d wanted.
And then I caught it.
Center
Returning to Center: Love, Power, and the 25th Gene Key
Would you like to experience more love in your life?
I know I do.
Not just romantic love—but that deep, quiet, peaceful feeling that fills you from within.
I used to think this came from other people or special moments—
a meaningful conversation, a hike in the hills, or a perfect meal.
But now I understand something more:
That feeling of love isn’t something I find. It’s who I am.
It’s the steady hum within me—like bees in a hive.
My Love of Life Energy
In a faded ballroom near the San Francisco Airport, I stood on paisley carpet, the chandeliers trembling as planes roared overhead. Richard Strozzi, a sixth-degree black belt in Aikido, had just said:
“Stop and feel your feet.”
I couldn’t.
I knew my feet were there, but I couldn’t feel them. That moment opened a doorway I didn’t know I was seeking—a longing to experience myself from the inside out.