Turbulence in our minds and emotions is so common, to have a chaotic inner life is accepted as the normal state of being. Yet the natural state for a healthy human is to have a clear mind and calm emotions.
When next you find your mind distracted, confused or perplexed, or your emotions in upheaval, find a place where you can be alone.
Sit still in your meditation posture with your eyes closed and focus for a minute or more on calming your breath. Once you are satisfied that your breath is under control, imagine you are seated outside in Nature.
It is the silent pre-dawn, and all around you is wrapped in dense fog. This is the fog of your thoughts and emotions, all-encompassing, inescapable and impenetrable.
Gradually, you sense the impending arrival of the dawn, for the air becomes brighter. Gaze fixedly at the point in the sky where you know the sun to be, and do not shift your gaze. Your aim is to see the sun. You know the sun is there, a vague luminous presence behind the omnipresent mist.
Looking at the point where you know the sun to be, imagine you can actually see the sun in all its beauty, power and brilliance. Feel the warmth of the sun on your cheeks and in your heart, imagine the joy and the thrill that the sun brings, coursing through your veins, tingling in your nerves, shining through your face.
Do not pay any attention to the fog enveloping you. It is no longer relevant.
Before long, the sun does its thing and clears away the mist. You are now seeing the sun for real, more beautiful and powerful even than you had imagined.
Your mind has cleared, your emotions serene.