When we experience pleasant feelings, emotional attachment ensues, and when that pleasant feeling subsides, craving arises, the desire to experience it again. The nature of this mind is dissatisfaction; it disturbs our mental peace because its nature is agitation. When we experience unpleasant feelings, We automatically dislike and want to get rid of them; aversion arises, again disturbing our mental peace. Thus whatever feelings arise… they disturb us emotionally and there’s no balance or equanimity in our minds. …many of our negative actions are reactions to feeling… If you look a little deeper, you will find that feelings are responsible for all the conflicts in the world. From two children fighting over a piece of candy to two huge nations fighting over their very existence, what are they fighting for? For pleasant feelings. Even children too young to speak will fight Because they want to feel happy. By meditating on equanimity – all sentient beings are exactly the same in wanting happiness and not desiring suffering – you can learn to eliminate the extremes of tremendous attachment to one and tremendous attachment to the other. In this way you can easily keep your mind balanced and healthy.

-- Lama Thubten Yeshe