Thoughts: Do Our Thoughts Create Our Feelings?

In recent times, people have become more aware of how powerful their thoughts are and while the power of one’s thoughts is nothing new, it was not something that was as well known in the past. And the reason more people are aware of the power of their thoughts is partly down to the internet.

The internet has made information a lot easier to attain and people no longer need to be part of a certain society or to take part in formal education in order to educate themselves. What was classed as hidden knowledge or a ‘secret’ at one point in time is now widely available on the internet.

One has to find this knowledge, as it is not going to fall on their laps. But if the desire is there, then it is not going to take much effort to come across information that would have been near impossible for find in the past.

Self Development

Another factor is the self development industry and how so much of what this industry covers relates to ones thoughts. There are of course, other areas that are covered, but this is one of the main areas.

This could be taken as a sign that people are becoming more aware of themselves and are starting to experience greater self control. As opposed to being oblivious to what is taking place inside their heads and feeling that they have no control over their life.

Self Talk

One area that if often spoken about when it comes to ones thoughts, is how one talks to themselves.  So this relates to the dialogue that goes on inside one’s mind and this is going to play a part in what one does or doesn’t do, amongst other things

So what one does or doesn’t achieve and the kind of behaviour they put up with from others will often reflect the inner conversation that one has. Based on this, one is either their own best friend or their own worst enemy.

Positive Thinking

This is then part of thinking positive and expecting good things to happen, as opposed of expecting bad things to happen. Here, one focuses on what is positive and moves their attention away from what is negative.

And as the mind is like a garden, it makes perfect sense to place ones attention on what is life enhancing. What one focuses on grows, so why would they want to place their attention on what is negative?

Avoidance

This can then cause one to avoid anything that is negative and while it can seem to be the right thing to do, it can actually lead to problems. As the saying goes – ‘what we resist persists’. It can then lead to denial, avoidance and therefore repression, but then, life is rarely black and white.

Positive thinking is then an important part of living a fulfilling life and yet, it is not a panacea. At times, one will need to drop the positive thinking and face what needs to be faced. But while they are doing this, one can keep a positive outlook and at the same time, face what is not necessarily ‘positive’.

Feelings

And another part of being in control of one’s thoughts is the ability to control how one feels. One is then using their mind to control how they feel and if one has always been enslaved to their feelings, this is going to be a monumental change.

For most of one’s life, they may have thought that their feelings just appeared out of nowhere and now, they’re aware of how this is not the case. So if they feel down and unable to move forward in life for instance, they will focus on their thoughts and see how they need to ‘think differently’.

Top Down

Based on this outlook, it is what is going on in one’s head that is defining how they feel in their body. And if one was to think about a scenario where everything goes to plan or  imagines people responding well to them, then they are likely to feel good.

On the other hand, if one was to think about a scenario where everything goes wrong or thinks about an interaction where another person doesn’t respond well to them, they’re likely to feel bad.

Complete Control

The mind is then seen as having complete control when it comes to how one feels and therefore, if one believes that it is not their thoughts that is causing them to feel a certain way, it is because they are simply unaware of what is going on in their mind.  So one could then go about increasing their level of awareness until they find the thoughts that are causing their feelings.

However, what if ones thoughts don’t always define how they feel and this is then nothing more than half truth? On one side, this outlook might be dismissed and yet, if one has been unable to change how they feel by thinking differently, surely it would be worth looking into?

Bottom Up

The other side of this is that, one’s thoughts do not always define how they feel. They might trigger the feelings that are already in their body (the unconscious mind), but what they don’t always do is cause them.

And these feelings could have been trapped in one’s body since they were a baby and are therefore, have nothing to do with ones adult life. The focus is often on ones thoughts and how powerful they are, but as baby, one didn’t have the ability to think. And this is because their cortex wasn’t developed; they only had bodily sensations and feelings.

Trapped

These feelings can then end up being trapped in the body and go onto form the contents of one’s ‘unconscious mind’. How they feel is then triggered by how one thinks, but it is not caused by how they think.

And if these feelings were not in one’s body, they would also think differently. Their behaviour would change, as would their perception of life and other people. The body is then an important area for one to focus on if they want to change their life and not just their mind.

Awareness

Working from the head down is then one option and ones development can also be supported by working from the bottom up. When it comes to working with the mind, one might use positive thinking or something similar. And in order to process what is taking place in the body, some kind of body work will be needed.

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Oliver J R Cooper 
http://www.oliverjrcooper.co.uk/