It's not about becoming unfeeling or having no emotions when it ends by rejection or death...
It's completely the opposite. It's being consciously aware that everything is transient and thus has a limit....
"we are but passing ships in the night", so we are going to be present in each other's company and make the most of the
moments that we have. Not only with women, but with everything. How many people go on a run through the woods or the park
and in all of that time, they are thinking about what they need to buy in the supermarket, the project for work, wondering what their woman
meant by that comment she made last night.........all the time ESCAPING FROM THE PRESENT. Unaware that they are not even breathing properly or efficiently. When they arrive back home their run through the woods seemed like a dream...
You know when you are talking with somebody if they are someone that is awake and present. You feel each other's energy. Compare that with the dopey look you get off someone who has that "thousand yard stare". Sleep walkers.
I'm not saying don't feel........the opposite........feel, taste, experience, breath, touch.....involve all of your senses.........try it when you drink alcohol. Try it when you eat. Try it when you walk. Take in your surroundings. How many people do you know that when they eat....they wolf down their food like a viking......you can be sure they'll have digestive problems. They are not mindfully eating.
Try this experiment.........the next time you're talking to someone......look them in the eye and try to remove any expectations.......it ain't an easy task. Sit calmly back and want nothing only to see them. Observe what happens. Observe what goes on in your own mind. Anxiety? Doubt? Want?
So when the inevitable moment comes when it ends....through death or rejection........do you switch of feelings and become a "sociopath" as was erroneously interpreted? No.....
Just like any death, you're prepared......but that doesn't mean that you're not going to grieve that death. The blow will be "softened" ever so much because of acceptance. You've already accepted this as normal and natural. You knew this. But it still can hurt....
So grieve. The key is to recognize that you're feeling grief. Recognize and even state it. This is practiced in meditation. You recognize feelings and you recognize emotional states in the mind and physical feelings in the body. You recognize them and you don't fight them.............you also DO NOT BECOME ATTACHED TO THEM. You sit cross legged by the river and you observe your thoughts and feelings as they pass you by.......you observe them without trying to hold onto them.
Grieve. By all means grieve. Say "I feel grief right now because of this situation". Or if you are really skilled at detachment "I recognize that there's grief in me and that's okay" "I feel the grief and I let it pass through me". You don't fight it, in fact in meditation (even while walking) you can be consciously aware that grief is passing through you and you can consciously vision it leaving your body through your fingertips or through your toes"
In fact, if you do any labour or gardening work it's really helpful to do visual meditation exercises such as sweeping away the leaves in your garden......"this is the dark grief in my mind being raked away" . It's cleansing.
The problems arise when ONE BECOMES ATTACHED TO ONE'S GRIEF.
You hold onto the grief, perhaps because it's the last feeling you have left of your former lover. You let that grief go and you finally let your former lover go. You don't want that so you hold onto your grief. You become attached to it and it becomes comfortable......it becomes an excuse to not get on with your life. It become a buffer. An excuse for drinking too much. An excuse for doing drugs. An excuse for being a victim.......
When there is a death, there is a grieving period. But after a certain amount of time, if you are still grieving months or years later, it's no longer about grieving for the person you lost.....it's about you. You are indulging in your grief.