Where do the feelings come from? What influences their appearance? Can we control how we feel? I was wondering about these questions and thought to put together a short process of my thinking.
Establishing the common ground
I’d like to start with the description of the most important notions. A piece of information is a thought or statement that contains at least one object and subject like dogs are barking. It can also be perceived through the physical senses without any words.
Faith, I’d say, is the inner confirmation of the thought or statement. In other words, if the intuition rings truth when hearing information, you believe it.
The lense that separates us from the information
All the information we encounter firstly has to come through our focus. Without our focus, we cannot perceive or take a piece of information into a consideration. Focus is our conscious ability to notice. If the information doesn’t cause us to focus at least for a bit, we won’t encounter it.
Secondly, it has to make at the very least a bit of sense. Understanding plays an important role in impacting us. If the thought remains not understood it vanishes from us without even leaving any trace in the memory.
Now, the information has caught our attention and we understand what it is all about. Lastly, the statement won’t touch our lives, if it’s completely not relatable. It has to make a connection to another piece of information we already have in order to have any influence. Emotions cannot be caused by empty statements that mean nothing to us. Saying that clouds are white forms in the sky in random shapes would not cause any feelings because it doesn’t connect to anything we’ve experienced so far. Unless, of course, it would remind you of a memory, experience, hobby, or a job.
Only having these three attributes (noticeability, understandability, and relatability) a thought touches our lives causing certain emotions to form. It varies in strength, from unnoticeable to completely life-changing experiences but every one of them leaves a mark in us.
The chain reaction in the action
Feelings are our soulish natural response to the things we believe. If we don’t believe in a certain truth, it flies by us and causes no effect on us emotionally. If it’s not real to you, it won’t create an emotional response. However, consideration of thought in a confirmation for it to be true causes feelings to form in a long term manner.
It’s worth noticing that a statement doesn’t enter us if we don’t believe it but, if we accept a thought as true, it comes in.
We are full of things we believe and we call that a mindset!
Someone would ask, where do I draw a line between believing in something and not having any faith in at all? There is a range, not a clear line that distinguishes the two. We have the ability to also believe things partially and this uncomplete faith can fade as much as possible until it reaches unbelief.
Feelings then make us move a certain direction and do specific actions. If you say to someone who likes sweets that cakes are now sold with a discount in the shop, they would do a response that corresponds with the though. A statement wouldn’t do much to a person that doesn’t accept it with faith.
To someone who likes cakes, knowledge about them being sold cheaper would arise excitement and joy as emotions to get some sweets on a bargain. If the sweet-tooth doesn’t regard the news about the discount as a real and true fact, it would fire-up some feelings but they wouldn’t last long and wouldn’t call for action upon the information.
Taking the control
At this point, we can see that we consume information taking into us, and faith in it allows us to move in a certain direction. It’s important what kind of information is entering us because of the way it makes us feel.
Someone who wants to feel happy cannot expect to experience it while watching bad news on TV where they witness horrible events taking place. All the negative information will build up negative emotions.
It’s like feelings have a root in external things. What we surround ourselves with we are slowly become like. Most of us can surround ourselves in a positive environment by choice. This is vital to go forward in life and get good results. I truly believe we aren’t crated for negativity for it breaks us down.
If you noticed something, you were able to understand it and relate to it in your life, this experience is entering into you like a seed. Faith in the reality and importance of that seed causes it to have a smaller or bigger effect in your life bringing emotional carriage together with itself. It’s important what you’re focusing on because that will eventually leed to what you feel.
Our consumption of information is the key to what kind of life we have emotionally.
Focus and understanding stand there as a gate. If you don’t even notice a thought while focusing on something more relevant to you, the thought flies by and doesn’t without an opportunity to enter. Understanding, however, allows us to remember things we noticed. While listening to someone teaching on the topic you have no experience in, you can notice that the information simply doesn’t stick to you. It doesn’t come through the gate of your mind!
If a thought doesn’t enter the mind, there are no feelings concerning the particular statement. On the other hand, every feeling is caused by the information stored in your mind.
Can we control what we feel?
Not exactly. We cannot demand a certain feeling as they are just a by-product of some thought or memory. Nevertheless, we have a right to choose what kind of information we are going to consume, what we are focusing on by our senses.
That’s how feelings appear in our array of emotions. Fortunately, we are not their slaves if we understand how all of this system works.
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