Feelings: Are they a Mystery to you?

By Sara Jane

Which comes first, the feeling or the thought?

Do feelings bring about the thoughts or do thoughts create the feelings?

We are beautiful Soul Spirits that are here to experience a myriad of sensations from joy to fear, ecstasy to anger, curiosity to sadness and all the colours of the rainbow in between.

Here I am going to be sharing a few of my thoughts and perceptions.

How do we name, identify with a feeling?

As we start to live our lives, we have experiences that engender feelings within us. Depending on how old we are, the experience, our understanding of words and their meanings, as to how we name those feelings. But what if we are so young we have no way of interpreting these strange feelings?

An example from my own life.

I was hospitalised for 3 months around my 1st birthday and because of the rules of the hospital and other circumstances (it was 1959), I saw my parents for an hour once a week.

I am guessing that every time I saw them a sensation in my stomach happened and after 3 months of feeling abandoned each time them left without me, when I could verbalise this feeling, it became about fear, anxiety.

It was only in my 50’s that I came to understand it was excitement and anticipation.

Is there an experience that you had when you were younger that left you with feelings you didn’t understand, that you could possibly have misinterpreted as being one thing, when in fact it is something totally different?

Emotions and Sensations: The Complexity of Feelings

Do the feelings, sensations in our body, create the thoughts which in turn trigger our emotions?

Or do our thoughts about a situation trigger our feelings and emotions?

When feelings are activated within us, we react and respond from our understanding and perception of what has just happened or been said.

What others meant may not be what we understood by the situation.

For each of us, it is important we take responsibility for our reactions and responses, being ready to listen to others and be heard.

Try to stay out of judgement (not always easy, I do get that). Be aware of all the parties involved and the interaction, including your own participation.

Not everything requires a response and the saying “least said soonest mended” is so true in many cases.

Be open to your feelings, acknowledge them, get to know them, accept them as being part of who you are. But don’t let them rule your life.

Too many of them are caused by people trying to take out their stuff on you and it has nothing to do with you at all, so doesn’t require a response or reaction from you.

Forgiveness is a big part of our experience here, learning to listen to our feelings and accepting them as part of this beautiful experience we call life.

 

Copyright © Sara Jane 2024