Thoughts, Emotions, Feelings, and Creativity
This blog idea came to me this morning during my pre-dawn meditation. At first, I resisted it because it seemed like old news and a topic most people have studied, contemplated, and experimented with. There have been more than a few books on the topic like The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, or You’ll See it When You Believe it, by Wayne Dyer. However, when my team of light wants something done, I know there is a good reason. They are usually spot on about the importance of discussing something in the present moment.
Some very unique things about humans are that they think thoughts, and they have feelings and emotions. What is the difference between feelings and emotions? “While emotions are associated with bodily reactions that are activated through neurotransmitters and hormones released by the brain, feelings are a conscious experience of emotional reactions.”[1] Generally both, though different, are interchangeable for most people and usually, but not always, are preceded by a thought. Our ability to think is a great gift given to us by God in order for us to share, along with our Creator, in the wonder of His creative nature.
I once heard a meditation teacher ask this question. “What is a thought, not the content of the thought, but the thought itself?” He continued to answer the question, “A thought is little more than nothing!”
My inquisitive mind was not quelled by that notion. In fact, it gave rise to an intense need to push back and say he was wrong. Thoughts are powerful. They are energy, and energy is the substance by which all things are created. Most of us believe this is true to one degree or another. Interestingly, however, there are some who have given little mind space to the power of thought, and the absence of that query is simply fine for them. I sometimes envy people like that. They are a rare breed who seem to have truly embraced and understand the frivolity and danger of allowing the ego-mind, with its incessant mindless thinking, to control their lives They allow thoughts to come and go in their lives like wispy clouds floating across a clear blue sky. They live, for the most part, completely focused on the world around them and remain firmly rooted in the blessed present moment. The difference between those wise humans is that none of their thoughts, especially disturbing ones, take hold and twist their minds into a jumbled up, incoherent quagmire. Unfortunately, I think they may be the exception rather than the rule, and we can all learn much from them.
So, let us revisit that statement that thoughts are little more than nothing. After some contemplation, I realized that my meditation teacher was right, sort of. A thought is little more than nothing, if there is no strong emotion that is evoked by the content of the thought. Let’s think now about a conflict we have had or are having in our lives at this moment. Does it evoke a physical reaction and bring up feelings of anger, resentment, fear, sorrow, or self-pity? Now think about a pleasant experience like falling in love or landing your dream job. What kinds of emotions and feelings arise? Perhaps falling in love makes us feel light and giddy with fluttery butterflies in our stomach when we think of being loved by another. Our dream job brings up emotions of excitement, and feelings of pride, triumph, and success. The stronger the emotion attached to a thought the more power that thought has in its ability to impact our life.
Not all experiences have lasting and long-term effects on our lives. A good amount of them will most likely have an intense influence for a relatively short time. If a conflict, for example, is resolved satisfactorily for us, we will most likely give the experience little thought again, and those intense negative feelings will fade into the background of our lives. In that case the impact was short-lived and of little consequence. If falling in love and landing our dream job eventually lead to enduring feelings of contentment and satisfaction the initial experience will have a positive lasting effect.
However, sometimes experiences, especially negative or traumatic ones will have a much larger and long-lasting impact on our lives. If, for example, we continue to bring situations into our lives through our constant thoughts about other people always trying to take advantage of us, that will create a life filled with endless anger, frustration, and pain. Our constant negative and fearful thoughts fueled by intense emotions and feelings will draw into our lives the very things we fear.
If blissfully falling head over heels in love helped us assuage our prolonged and persistent feelings of emptiness and loneliness, at least for a while, we will most likely eventually end up being disappointed and disillusioned. There is a good chance that when the headiness and rapture of falling in love naturally progresses to a more comfortable, calm place, and life becomes predictable and routine, those endless negative feelings may very well return. Along with those feelings, the painful and destructive thoughts may return, and together they will play off each other, keeping us in a constant cycle of negative thoughts, painful emotions and then back to negative thoughts. This may cause us to jump from one relationship to another, always seeking and longing for something that can never be found in anything outside of us. That something is simply peace, and it exists in the temple of our soul’s light deep within our hearts, which is where our soul resides.
So, what is the solution to being in control of our thoughts that are almost always generated by the ego-mind, so that we can create a life of joy and peace. Well, first, we need to be aware and conscious of what our ego-mind is thinking by checking in on a regular basis. If we catch our emotionally charged thoughts in an act of negative creativity, we can self-correct and replace that thought with a positive one. For example, if we are saying, “No one ever sticks by me for too long. They always leave my life and then I am all alone again, as always.” Boom! Those are explosive thoughts and most likely have powerful emotions and feelings attached to them. If they become habitual, they have the power to draw into our lives people and situations that will line up with those thoughts and most likely create a life of loneliness and disappointment. What is the antidote? We can replace those thoughts with something like, “I only attract people into my life who see my beauty and light. Once they come into my life for a moment or a lifetime, they treat me with love and kindness, simply because I always treat myself with love, kindness, and compassion as well.” Herein lies the X Factor for creating the life we want! The X Factor is Love!
As I have said many times, everything we see outside of us exists within us. If we look around our lives and don’t like what we see, it may be time to self-reflect, self-correct, remember how much we are loved by God, and then fill ourselves up with abundant self-love. Love is all that is real, and all there really is! Everything else is an illusion. The answer to creating the life we want, is to rein in and silence our snarky ego-mind, and fill out thoughts will positivity, gratitude, hope, and faith. Then we can go out into the world and sprinkle our soul’s love wherever we go and watch joyously as that love miraculously filters gently back into our lives.
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[1] I found this definition of feelings and emotions via google. There was no reference for the definitions.