strong thoughts and feelings

[as5tx]

how many times have we felt strongly or have had strong thoughts about something? How has it affected us ? Like for eg strong likes and dislikes, strong fears etc. These thoughts characteristically never leave our attention once they manage to sneak through. For eg i am afraid of speaking in front of people. The very thought sends me into a mental hijack so that all other thoughts are blocked. Similarly, when i say i like a particular food item, i am ready to put a lot of effort to make it or get it.and if i don't then again a whole range if strong feelings envelop me. Would'nt it be better to just dilute these feelings and thoughts and responses. we could save a lot of energy and eliminate mental stress. your thoughts

[as5tx]

as a simple exercise try this : each time you are worried just tell yourself "it will affect me only if i let it do so. no point in being deeply troubled ".

[mlbr23]

Our strong feelings come about either as a result of conditioning or a particularly 'strong' incident or experience we've had. It could even be a subconscious, subliminally linked thing (like the Pavlovian theory).

A good way forward is to probably try EFT (emotional freedom techniques) which I believe is also being discussed in these boards.

If you have a particularly strong feeling that is not useful for you, recreate that strong feeling either by having a physical specimen that generates the feeling for you put right in front of you or (a more harmless way) visualise it vividly as if what you're feeling is real.

Then perform the EFT process repeatedly until you 'dilute' your feelings, thoughts and responses.

Another technique I recommend is the Sedona method. It's deceptively simple and quick to learn.

[wethead]

Sometimes my feelings are so strong that it affects my work for sure.

[Tigerlilly]

Okay just some random thoughts in loose order that flitted through my mind when I read your post.

Sometimes I do think my life'd be a lot easier if I wasn't so prone to being overwhelmed, if I could experience life with a little more detachment, but then again having all my passions run deep and high I feel is part of who I am.

And to imagine myself being different feels a bit like turning into a zombie, something not really alive nor dead. It makes me think of the universe not being a place of extremes and duality but turning into a lukewarm chicken soup something. It's like the Jedi saying no attachment at all, keeping their distance from something instead of dealing with the feelings that arise from the experience.

There's a nice image of having to move through fire and really all elements to reach revelation and true joy, to be purged by experiences, so the basic message might be not to shy away from the experience nor the emotion and thoughts but to move right through them.

Or maybe one makes a mistake in considering toneself to be something apart from emotions and thoughts, like imagining them to be high waves hitting you close to the beach, hurling you around. Maybe it's like in that Zen story where you have to be the waves instead.

I do think the strength of emotions and thoughts indicates your energy level. But apart from that I'm not clear about them. It's said emotions are an indicator of being in alignment, but I sometimes make a game of daydreaming and I can pass through total opposites of emotional stages in a few minutes just by directing my daydream as if it were a movie. And when I quit the daydream, the movie stops. I use it to make up stories, so my daydreams are nowhere near reality. So how can the emotions I experience in my daydream be an indicator for being in alignment? With what?

And my emotions and thoughts sure have caused me suffering in the past, they sometimes cause me suffering in the daydream, the only difference there is that I can quit any time I choose to and pick up on another line of thoughts. So even in playing out a drama I always do it intentionally. And I wonder, wouldn't it be nice to be able to do that all the time?