When it comes to emotions, it’s important to find a balance. You shouldn’t blindly trust them, but you also shouldn’t completely ignore them.
Emotions and feelings are neither right nor wrong, accurate or not. They’re simply your body’s way of reacting to what you are thinking, whether you’re aware of those thoughts or not.
Throughout the day, your mind is constantly running on autopilot, and these unconscious thoughts often give rise to emotions. That’s why sometimes you might feel a certain way without even understanding why.
Let me give you an example to show why emotions aren’t inherently right or wrong. Imagine you’re thinking about something you really want but don’t have. You might believe that you’re unhappy because you lack it. But here’s the truth: your unhappiness actually stems from the thought of not having it, not from the absence itself. Think about it – have you ever been happy even when you didn’t have that thing? If you didn’t care about it, would you still be unhappy? Or imagine you were busy doing something enjoyable, like riding a horse, that distracted you from thinking about it. In that moment, would you still be unhappy about not having it? You see, not having what you want doesn’t automatically make you feel bad; it’s the act of thinking about it that triggers negative emotions.
Now, let’s talk about where emotions come from. In most cases, it’s our thoughts that create our emotions. Sometimes, our unconscious mind and senses pick up cues from the environment, like someone’s body language or facial expression, which automatically trigger emotions. Other times, it’s not the external world or the situation itself that causes our emotional reaction. It’s actually our interpretation of the situation, our mental filter, that gives rise to our emotional response.
It’s important to be aware of your thoughts and understand that they play a significant role in shaping your emotions. By recognizing this connection, you can gain more control over your emotional well-being and navigate your experiences with greater clarity.
Emotions serve a purpose by reflecting what is going on in our lives or in our minds. It’s all about figuring out which ones you want to experience and which ones you’d rather leave behind. However, this can be a bit tricky. For example, if you’re feeling bored, it’s obvious that you’d prefer to feel passion instead. On the other hand, if you’re feeling hatred, moving towards a feeling of revenge might actually seem like an improvement. And then, as you progress further to frustration, you start feeling even better. Finally, you reach hope, and that’s when you’ve entered the realm of “wanted” or positive emotions. Moving up the emotional scale always brings a sense of relief compared to the lower levels and it feels good in comparison. The ultimate goal is to keep moving upward.
It’s important to note that you can’t make a sudden leap to a much higher emotional level. Each level of emotions has its own thought patterns and physiological states that create momentum, keeping you anchored to a particular emotional state. However, by consciously reaching for thoughts that make you feel better, you can gradually climb the emotional scale. Let’s consider the example of moving from hatred to revenge to disappointment to hope. Similarly, you can shift from boredom to optimism to enthusiasm. But you can’t jump from anger to joy or from hatred to love. The gap between these emotions is simply too wide.
So, embrace the process of incrementally improving your emotions by deliberately choosing thoughts that uplift you. As you steadily move up the scale, you’ll experience a positive shift in how you feel and create a more fulfilling emotional landscape.