It’s rightly said that ingrained, or habitual, responses activate our feelings. This holds good for our unanswered emotional patterns too. In other words, we are innately hooked to emote feelings that emerge before and after a situation.
You and I can actually modify, or alter, any given or not given opinion, or view, to avoid certain conditioned responses, or feelings. Yet, we most often don’t — because, It’s My Way! as Buffy Sainte-Marie crooned, to be what we have learned to accept as part of our temperament.
It’s certainly not easy to resolve issues, unless we work hard ‘from the mind up,’ as it were, to a higher level. So, we often think of the easiest route out — and, not challenge our thoughts, feelings, or responses to circumstances.
What ‘fuels’ our thoughts and feelings are events, happenings, and conditions of our daily life. This often relates, or connects, us to family situations, workplace pressures, financial issues, rising prices etc.,
Know Your Psyche
Just think of the opposite effect. This is also a part of our psyche. A pat on the back from your colleague, better still your boss, or a profitable development in your share investments — your mental stock goes up.
These examples mirror the state we are always in, by default. Put simply, we are all in a state of hypnosis — day-in and day-out. Like a good word, at the beginning of the day, makes us feel on top of the world, a bad word throws everything out of gear.
Either way, we carry them all through the day. If only we begin to consciously cultivate our emotional responses, we’d all do better and also accept events that ought to happen in life, while recognising them at a deep, subtle level.
Think of your mind as your mobile phone, where each of your five senses are akin to buttons, or responses to your ‘touch,’ on the handset. If you push too many buttons, or stir your touchscreen far too many times, there would be a time interval — the phone could get a wee bit ‘groggy.’
This is quite like hitting your mind with too many triggers. It’d lead to a mental static, upsetting your thinking applecart. When we cloud our thought processes with too many muddled ‘hit-and-miss’ feelings, we stifle our best thoughts and behaviours. So much so, we can only hear a faint buzz from our inner voice asking us as to what we’ve been thinking — not responding. It’s like keeping your own call on hold to buy time to think and/or act.
Understand Yourself
It’s not difficult to be wise before the event. If you are not given your due at work, you tend to become despondent. But, when you become wiser and understand things, from another perspective, you’ll be able to learn more about issues — as to what wasn’t right, or what was.
The ‘first level’ precedes your thought processes — your mind/body reacts with anger, sadness, or disappointment, to an event, or situation. The ‘second level’ relates to an optimistic emotional situation — a state in which you will be better equipped to express your preference.
It is always a good idea, even if it isn’t perfect, not to go into the denial mode. Or, hold back your conscious thinking, or delicate forms of anxiety, stress, and sensitivity. If you suppress your feelings, you not only bottle up negative energy, but you’ll also use far too much active energy to keep your anguish in check.
You’ll add weight to your emotional baggage You’ll become far too sensitive to such recurring events — and, therefore, ill-equipped to dealing with angst, gently.
So, prepare and act, not react, with full awareness, but without undermining your affirmative actions.
