Jeffrey,
Just let everything be. Force nothing away, draw nothing to you, just let it all be. At this stage you just want to learn to sit and breathe and relax. If the sadness is there let it be there, right now if you try letting it go you may end up forcing it away, a form of hypnosis and very unhealthy way to start being with what is.
Warmly,
Matthew
Dear Matthew or forummers,
I do get a lot of empty sadness, I don't quite understand the part that if try let go you may end up forcing it away...a form of hypnosis.?.since I have been meditating for one month. Thanks.
It only sounds complicated. If you
try to let go, that is an activity born out of craving for a change in your situatuion. This will cause tension in body and mind. Letting go is not an activity but comes to you naturally if you
simply keep up your practice without craving for any success. That's the trick. Sadness arising? Let it arise, why not? It is there anyway, so you just stay equanimous, observe it, go on with your meditation, that's all. Don't give it too much importance, it will go away again.
Well, you could force it away all right, but that's the "self-hypnosis" Matthew is talking about. Because in reality you cannot force it away, you only can enter the unhealthy state of not seeing what is actually there.
The empty sadness you experience now, that is the sadness you stashed away your whole life. Now you meditate. Especially in the beginning meditation often is not bliss, but dirty work. It's like you shoved your garbage under your bed for a long time so you don't see it. But it's there, it smells, you decide to do something about it. You meditate.
What happens when you clean up under the bed? Right, you have to
touch all that garbage again you shoved away a long time ago. You stirr it up so it smells even worse (for a short period only). That's the sadness you experience now, it is not a sadness that originates from your present situation, but it is "long-time-gone"-sadness you are getting rid of right now. So, no need for any reaction ...

... let it happen, it is healthy.
Springtime, clean up your sadness!

Just go on with your practice.
Metta, Stefan