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Originally Posted by z1freeride  I believe that emotion is the result of a desire/need/expectation being fulfilled or unfulfilled. Personally I would define "depressed" as an emotion. So, from how I look at it, you didn't choose to change your emotion (the left side of the equation), you changed the other side of the equation which produced a different result.
You can choose what you desire, need or expect which in turn will change your emotions.
So, I don't think it's possible to just say "I'm going to be happy and not depressed anymore." You have to do exactly what you did. Being grateful fulfills desires to have X, to be X, etc. |
Here was my mental model of it at the time: thought begets emotion which in turn begets action. (Again with a disclaimer, I understand that it’s more complicated than that, that thought isn’t always completely separate from emotion, etc.) I think that’s why gratitude worked for me. Gratitude gave me another kind of thought to focus my attention on, which in turn generated another type of emotion, one that was positive. You're right. I didn't necessarily work on the feeling directly, I worked on the thought which preceeded the feeling. You also have to figure that I was desperate at the time. Gratitude wasn't just another self helpish/New Agey thing to try and discard when I got bored with it. I felt like I had to fight to save myself from suicide. Anyway, I suspect that we’re essentially saying the same thing, only with different words.