One thing that mindfulness has shown me is that there are two lenses in which we can view an emotional state.
1) Emotional/internalizing lens
2) Logical/external lens
The emotional lens is utilized when you internalize an emotion like anger, and perceive it as what your being is. When this occurs, the brain automatically tries to understand why. It's as if the brain runs with the logic "I'm angry, now I need to understand the cause of this by cherry-picking information to explain it". I'm sure most people have experienced this. For example, when I feel depressed, I notice my brain automatically seeks to find the negative thoughts and perceptions (past/future/and present) so that my "feelings" and thoughts are in unison. I imagine this is fairly common for the vast majority, but at the same time this sort of process can and often does reinforce painful states of being.
The logical lens (created by utilizing mindfulness) is when emotion is viewed as it actually is (physical feelings) along with viewing the thoughts from the "outside" (thus not internalizing them, and not getting emotionally involved with "feelings"). Mindfulness allows the viewing of emotions and emotional thoughts in a logical way. Thoughts are just thoughts, feelings are just feelings, nothing more or less (correct labeling is obviously more accurate, and so much emotional pain can be caused by cognitive distortions).
When you feel an unwanted emotion such as anger, think the following things (it can apply to any emotion, just take out the word 'anger' and replace it with the appropriate word).
"I am experiencing the sensations of anger, it is impossible to be angry in the same way that it is impossible to be any other action" (there is a big difference between being and action, beings exist, actions are behaviors...avoid improper labeling).
"This is what anger feels like" (try to be aware of what being angry feels like, be mindful of your thoughts and sensations, view them as they are in a logical way).
"This anger is merely a signal my brain is giving me to be mindful"
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment :)
1) Emotional/internalizing lens
2) Logical/external lens
The emotional lens is utilized when you internalize an emotion like anger, and perceive it as what your being is. When this occurs, the brain automatically tries to understand why. It's as if the brain runs with the logic "I'm angry, now I need to understand the cause of this by cherry-picking information to explain it". I'm sure most people have experienced this. For example, when I feel depressed, I notice my brain automatically seeks to find the negative thoughts and perceptions (past/future/and present) so that my "feelings" and thoughts are in unison. I imagine this is fairly common for the vast majority, but at the same time this sort of process can and often does reinforce painful states of being.
The logical lens (created by utilizing mindfulness) is when emotion is viewed as it actually is (physical feelings) along with viewing the thoughts from the "outside" (thus not internalizing them, and not getting emotionally involved with "feelings"). Mindfulness allows the viewing of emotions and emotional thoughts in a logical way. Thoughts are just thoughts, feelings are just feelings, nothing more or less (correct labeling is obviously more accurate, and so much emotional pain can be caused by cognitive distortions).
When you feel an unwanted emotion such as anger, think the following things (it can apply to any emotion, just take out the word 'anger' and replace it with the appropriate word).
"I am experiencing the sensations of anger, it is impossible to be angry in the same way that it is impossible to be any other action" (there is a big difference between being and action, beings exist, actions are behaviors...avoid improper labeling).
"This is what anger feels like" (try to be aware of what being angry feels like, be mindful of your thoughts and sensations, view them as they are in a logical way).
"This anger is merely a signal my brain is giving me to be mindful"
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment :)
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