I’m compelled to draw attention to the totality of all experiences of aliveness. There seems to be an over emphasis on just the so-called positive aspects of being in contemporary spiritual discourse which, to me, seems inaccurate, and unhelpful.
I’m with Ordinary Mind Zendo’s lay teacher Barry Magid on this when he says:
Zazen is a complete experience of being for its own sake; it is not a means to an end, not some curative fantasy. All you're going to do is sit, and experience whatever is going on. This means feeling whatever you feel (emotionally or physically), think whatever you think - and just watch. What we’re really in the business of doing is helping people stay with the thoughts and feelings they are coming to meditation to escape.
Barry Magid