Emotion driven thought

[Kiwi Ninja]

Please forgive me if this topic isn't in the appropriate forum page.

 

Before coming to this site, I thought I had my mind pretty much worked out and applied belief management exercises to good effect to make changes in my life. It's still a work in progress.

 

However, after reading all the comments from people and looking at energy blockages and how they effect different emotions in our body, I've come to wonder whether sometimes the emotion comes first.

 

I know that thoughts can drive emotions. Boss gets angry at you, you feel angry back. A thought has activated that emotion. However, often times I notice emotions come for no apparent reason. I also notice that throughout the day a thought might pop into my head about an ex-girfriend or something and that is accompanied by a temporary ping of sadness or depression.

 

Now I am wondering if that ping of depression actually came first, and because of long associations with thoughts, I instantly activate the thought of the Ex (for example). Emotion brought the thought because they have been fused together for so long.

 

In this case, could the ping of depression be in fact an energy blockage or something? I think we all feel certain emotions at certain parts of our body.

 

Reading someone's post on this forum about 100 days of Jing retention, the poster indicates how important it is to have your mind under control before attempting anything like that (100 days of retention). Just purely out of interest, I have been practicing Jing retention for just 3 days. But already I notice an increased about of frustration, depression, irritability etc. I have tried something like that before. The end results were not positive and the lesson I learned was that sexual energy needs to be released frequently to quiet the mind.

 

However, now I am beginning to see through this forum how it could just be energy channels. You release jing and the energy flow stops there. Retain it and energy build up flows to another area where there could be a blockage, which activates an emotion, which activates distressing thoughts. At which case you could either think it is too much junk to handle and go and release yourself. Or you could deal with that blockage and try and/or try to disassociate the feeling with the thought. And hopefully allow that energy to pass through.

 

 

 

Sorry for the super long post. Just amazed at how much more there is to learn about life than I had currently been thinking thanks to the new views you guys have opened me up to.

 

I am wondering if I am on the right track with these ideas or if I have got it completely wrong. I am new to energy pathways and blockages etc. Havent read any books. Just reading posts from this forum.

 

 

[Songtsan]

Sometimes it seems like emotions are the bedrock that the thoughts swim in. If a person is angry, the thoughts that appear in the mind are more likely to be negative, atavistic ones. Of course thoughts can influence emotions too - but the effect seems slower. When in an angry mood (say you are angry at someone), if you tell yourself something like, "This person is on the whole good, and I should not judge them as all bad just because of this one thing," or something like that, it can certainly dull the emotional intensity. Not all the way though. This is because emotions, while electrical, are also chemical. Negative emotions often involve the amygdala and the fight or flight system, as well as adrenaline/sympathetic nervous system responses. If you go into witness state and just stand there watching what you are feeling as if separate from the feeling (which is more true than associating with the feeling as if its your real 'self'), you will often find that emotions have a physiological 'taste' as well as a feeling taste. For example, anger usually has increased sensitivity to the environment, arousal of sense abilities, maybe extra energy running causing you to feel 'sped up,' and so on. These are physiological effects, as well as pure perception effects on an energetic level. Then there is the more pure flavor of the emotion, that which is beyond the physiological effects, the true taste of that emotion. This is the heart of it, and in fact could be said to come from the 'heart' - i.e. the emotional center. A person in witness consciousness could of course simply be in a state of detachment, not allowing the emotions to affect reasoning whatsoever. Watching them fly by like clouds in a storm, they decide based on their wisdom-knowledge what to think, based on their own teachings and experience. Then they choose correct actions based on wisdom vs. acting from instinctive emotional response.

 

Then the flip side is when the person who is calm and centered has allowed themselves to express from certain emotions. They see what arises, know that it is good from a wisdom point of view, and decide to 'let it ride' - they immerse themselves in the flow and enjoy it while it is. Not being attached to it, when it ends, they let it go. Still centered, they remain the same witness, just a witness that allowed the feelings to flow through the body vs. not. It is a matter of choice, once one had attained this level of awareness. Once one has perfected oneself, of course, one can enter a state of 'choiceless awareness,' whereby they continuously allow the feelings that arise to express, because they have attained a state of grace where the right feelings will always arise, no matter what the occasion, so they can just let go. This is a highly sought after state of course.

 

Most of us, if we allowed ourselves to do whatever we felt - if we allowed ourselves to dwell in that state, would end up hurting those around us, losing their jobs, ending up in prison, and who knows what else.

 

The level of purity you have attained will become indicated by the person you are when you truly let go and become one with this life energy.

 

Then, there is this: allowing oneself to be in the flow-state regardless of outcome. If one is in a supportive environment, and others are understanding, one can be this way, allow all the emotions to flourish, no matter how negative they may seem, and burn through a lot of karma quite quickly. This is in a way like emotional cathartic release, but in a more permanent fashion. This is the path of the brave and the also foolish. When the foolishness naturally ends due to realization, one becomes a wheel turning king.

Edited July 22, 2013 by Songtsan

[Esteam'd Punk]

My attention span is currently too short to fathom any of this at the moment, but the gist of it reminds me of the Law of Attraction. My emotions always seem to follow my thoughts, or the other way around---and then the results surface.

[Songtsan]

My attention span is currently too short to fathom any of this at the moment, but the gist of it reminds me of the Law of Attraction. My emotions always seem to follow my thoughts, or the other way around---and then the results surface.

 

yeah there is a definite intertwining going on...I think emotions trump thought in most people though...as far as ability to control the body. Beyond thought/emotion is some kind of willpower though which is probably related to shen? Anyone else agree/disagree?