In Buddhist psychology, even large scale events and large emotional upheavals can be traced back step-by-step to simple little things  •  just a thought, just an idea, just a memory, just a little emotional undertone can quickly expand and expand until it's out of control  •  you could view this as bad news in seeing how quickly things escalate beyond our control, or you could think of this as good news in that even difficult and intense situations can be traced back and we can unravel them, get to the source, and thereby undercut their power  •  mindfulness practice is a way to observe this process in some detail  •  we can begin to discern what we're actually reacting to when we have our various reactions  •  is it something that’s actually happening? Is it a thought, a preexisting emotion? Are we reacting to what's actually going on, or are we reacting to this knotty mix of thoughts and emotions we carry around with us all the time?  •  it's worth exploring; instead of being caught in a world of preexisting conditions, we could begin to engage directly with what is actually going on here and now.