The Origin of Moods

@Chris, Cool, I also prefer to be skeptic but I am open to anything and I took down science from its pedestal because I realized it is really limited. I have the feeling that you are quite attached to the science dogma and as a consequence you have a blind spot. As the Zen saying goes “Empty your cup” ;)

Regarding emotions, I prefer to dive deep into them and to experience them and then I’ll see what conclusions I come up with.

I got a new wallpaper outta this discussion, baller.

@Ka

Not sure if that tone is confidence or condescension.

I was foolish enough to waste half my life on the thought that I’d live forever if I just loved Jesus enough.

I won’t waste the other half on blind faith again.

The concept of Jesus is another mood generator based on expectation (read faith). It’s a beaut because regardless of outcome your expectations are still met. There’s a lot of power there. That would apply to any religion. Something to think about…
Let’s keep on topic folks ;)

@Chris; I absolutely hear you on that one. I’ve been trying very hard to correlate causes with my next-day-moods, and I’m still searching! I have similar occurrences; I eat extremely healthy (all whole foods, pastas/grains, eggs, fruit and veggies, water) and exercise daily, and I am very conscious of my mental, emotional and physical state.

Despite all of this, there are days where I still wake up feeling negative for no reason; I have noticed my mood becomes more sensitive during full moons; I think I am just very empathic and receptive to fields. This negative state doesn’t last very long however, as I can usually “reverse” it by focusing on the opposite polarity emotion for several minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chiB4Mfki7s&feature=fvst

Danny Lowell t. this ones for you kid…. listen to it in the dark and report back to the stonedragon!

@Martijn; your assertion is correct, but it’s actually more complex than that. There is a big difference between blindly reacting to your emotions, and becoming consciously aware of them as they arise. With the latter, I am able to stop myself in the present moment and become consciously aware of my temporary emotional bias. Then, I can decide how to continue. Every situation is different, but I strongly advocate the questioning of ALL negative emotions that arise. Negative emotions are like alarms; there is no need to keep them blaring after you figure out what they are alerting you to.

I think you may have misunderstood my point on the last page Martijn, which is totally understandable. I am not “cutting off” my negative emotions, nor am I simply letting them take their course; these are two extremes of a pole. The only thing that is a reaction is the emotional impulse in the first place; without conscious awareness of your emotional state, you become a passive machine.

I don’t care WHO argues with me on this, YOU ARE NOT IN CONTROL unless you can steer your mental and emotional state at will. If I can piss you off by saying something, and you consequently react negatively towards me about it, I am in control of you. This is precisely how the news and media can get millions of people to participate in things that are nothing but detrimental to their well being.

Every action you will ever take is sparked by an emotional impulse. Everything from deciding what to have for lunch to how you would react if you just got into a car accident; emotions are the fuel for actions, and thus our experiences. You can argue that your thoughts are what get you moving, but your thoughts always “pass the ball” to the emotional centers immediately after. You might want to make pasta for lunch, only to realize that “I’m too tired” or “I don’t feel like it” shortly after ; )

People who think with a hammer always miss this point because they get lost in an infinite loop of reductionism. They will say things like “Well that’s not entirely true, because our emotions are responsible for our evolutionary survival, etc” or “Not everyone reacts the same way, so emotions are subjective” which is absolutely true, but completely ignores the influence of freewill choice.

Without freewill choice, all thoughts, emotions and consequently actions are all passive. Therefore, that which controls your thought patterns consequently controls your prevalent emotional state, and what actions you will feel capable of taking…unless you consciously intervene.

I always reduce it down to the three elements of thought, emotion and action, because nearly everything falls under those three “umbrella” categories in terms of dynamic experience. If you can consciously focus on positive thoughts, your physical body is going to start “picking up” on the cues, and mirror your conscious intent. Then, you’re going to find yourself excited to take action, where as before you were temporarily handicapped by apathy, indecision, depression, etc. Everything begins with choice.

@Ka Even the act of accepting is based on the idea that if I accept it, it will go away.

But then it’s not really accepting right? Because that idea is conditional: I will accept this ONLY when it will go away.

i guess we can have a thought, it stems from an emotion which is deeper inside us. the thought is the voice of the emotion and the mood is our genergal reaction to the whole thing.
looking at it, seeing it for what it is, deciding to go on with it, or cut it.
that is our free will at every given instance. but are we capable of such control.
we can learn a lot about ourselfs by looking at this point.

wow both ka and jason you are amazing.
ive been meditating for 25 years now, im still working on this. im a baby still compared to you guys.
it is super hard for me, cuz im a woman maybe and so emotional.
but i do get less intensly hysteric now. infact hardly ever, but i do have a hardcore anxiety which is so deep and underlying most of the time. esp at nite.
for me, as i see thoughts and emotions in colors and shapes it is hard to have any control over them. they just appear in the Movie screen of my mind. i make attempts to shut the projector down. or get ontop of it and put new images in, but i find that is so artificial.
i guess the best way is to do the deep breathing, then they slow down and become softer, even if there is an underlying nasty grundge bubbling up. like muck in a water bed.
how do you guys control them?? Jason how do your for example turn your thoughts to positive. do you start to sing. THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS??

ka . call an ex girlfriend up and see what comes up emotionwise!!

my ex just called up and i was very interested to see how that effected me emotionally. it is subtile for sure, and sometimes not so subtile. later you can get a backlash from something that happened earlier and go into a bad mood. upon examining it ..oh yes that phone call must have done it.
that kind of thing.

i guess the silva mind program is working on you.
be happy you dont have many emotions.
dont try to create drama in your life. swim in sweet calm water!