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What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

One thought.
Another thought.

They come and go
like a river that flows.

Sometimes
I just sit on the shore
and watch.

Until I get bored.

Negative feelings…
like a forgotten folklore.

Sometimes the river swells
tries to pull me under.

I swim.
and swim.

Not to win
just to make sure
it doesn’t fill me completely.

And when I reach a quiet place,
dry and still,

I take off the clothes
of those feelings
and throw them off a cliff.

Then I stand in front of the mirror
and say:

I came like this.
And I will go like this.

But while I’m here
I guess I have to dress up
to cover a little shame.

Sometimes
I punch a pillow
just to let the steam escape.

Sometimes
I walk.

And keep walking.

Until the feeling
gets tired of chasing me.

I don’t want to carry it home
and stack it
on top of others.

Sometimes
cold water on my face.

And the feeling slides away
like droplets
running down my cheeks.

Sometimes
I take a bus ride.

And leave that feeling
on the seat beside me.

So far
the driver has never called
to say
I forgot something.

I just hope
no one picks it up.

Maybe it gets washed away
when the driver cleans the bus.

Like a fish
rising for a moment
just to see the sky,

I keep checking my mind
to see
if any ragged feelings remain.

But truth is

We need both
negative
and positive connections

to light the bulb
inside the mind.

A little doubt
might save a life.

Might stop us
from standing too close
to people
with the wrong energy.

So when a negative feeling arrives
I don’t fight it first.

I detect it.

Where did it come from?

I examine it
like a doctor
studying a patient.

But no medicine.

Because feelings
are natural.

They visit.

They leave.

And the river
keeps flowing.