Flinching, Scrolling, Reacting—Let’s Try Something Else

A practice for meeting what unsettles you—and turning it into something new.

Hi Friends!

Welcome back to Roam—the part of Bodhisavage where I send you a prompt, a little nudge out of the ordinary, so you can get weird and hands-on with your practice.

Illustration by Eduardo Ramos

Last week, we explored anger—that raw, mercurial energy that, when met with awareness, reveals something vital, clear, and powerful.

This week, we’re turning toward the quieter, sneakier, reflexive precursor to anger: aversion.

Aversion is the flinch.

It’s the hair-trigger urge to turn away, to scroll past, to dismiss, to cringe, to reject. It happens fast. So fast that, if we’re not paying attention, it decides for us before we’ve even felt its full shape.

You’re watching a video, and suddenly something about it pisses you off. Don’t know what, don’t care. You click away before you even know why.

Someone walks into the room, and before they even open their mouth, their whole energy irritates you. No ma’am, you think, and shut down before they can infiltrate your vibe.

A feeling, a memory, an idea—something hits weird, gives you the heebie-jeebies, and you push it from mind without a second glance.

That’s aversion—a knee-jerk “nope” before we’ve had a chance to see what’s actually there.

In the Buddhist framework of the Five Wisdoms (which we’ve been exploring over the past few months), aversion is the distorted form of Mirror-Like Wisdom—the aspect of awareness that reflects things exactly as they are, without projection.

But when aversion runs the show, we don’t actually see—we reject.

The practice, then, is to get aware before the flinch completes itself. To turn toward what unsettles us just enough to let clarity emerge.

This week’s prompt is about meeting aversion at the threshold—getting curious instead of pulling back, and opening up a new relationship with what repels us.

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Prompt: Facing the Flinch

1 | Find Your Edge

Choose something that stirs aversion. Not something overwhelming, but something that makes you instinctively pull back:

• a taste or texture you can’t stand

• an instagram post that frustrates you

• a memory that makes you cringe

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2 | Bring it Close

Let it hover in your awareness, in your body, just as it is.

Instead of launching into why it sucks—why you’re justified in hating it, or all of it’s narrative particulars—drop the story and just feel.

Even let go of the word “aversion” and get curious:

• How does it feel in your body?

• Is it sharp? Dull? Aching? Hot?

• Is it moving? Expanding? Pulsing?

Let your awareness expand into the space between impulse and reaction.

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3 | Let It Move

Give this naked energy center stage. Let it express itself, shift, unwind. Try one of these:

🌀 Moving Meditation: Let your body respond freely to the sensations. Move with the aversion, as the aversion, without resisting or exaggerating. Let it curl through you and express itself beyond words.

✍️ Writing: Narrate the energy as if it were a living entity moving inside the shelter of your body. Does it roam through you like an empty house? Does it make a nest in your gut? Does it expand like a sentient bubble?

What does aversion become when you strip it of its stories and give it your curious attention?

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Let the experience unwind on its own.

If it’s sticky, help it along by thanking it—for its clarity, its aliveness. Then, shift your attention to something neutral or pleasant to let your nervous system land somewhere soft.

Try it out and lemme know how it goes. Drop your reflections (or some of your wild writing) in the comments.

And if you want to explore the energy of anger and aversion ‘smore, join me for next week’s Moonlit Sit.

See you there.

❤️ Lama Tasha

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Moonlit Sit: March

DATE: Friday, March 14
TIME: 8-9pm EST
LOCATION: Online (Zoom link will be emailed to you on registration)

TOPIC: The Clarity Inside Anger
We’ll tend to anger with compassionate space: giving anger our attention, seeing what it’s made of, and practicing the kind of presence that turns reactivity into clarity.

DANA: This session is open to all on a donation basis. If you’d like to support this work, you can donate during registration or become a paid subscriber on Substack.

✨REGISTER HERE ✨