This is my hobby-horse a bit, and I've lots of theories. I've noticed that our emotions are influenced by our thoughts, regardless of our circumstances. Of course, our circumstances do influence our thoughts, but sometimes our thoughts don't accurately reflect those circumstances and we react emotionally to whatever we believe is true whether it is or not.
For example, some people (mainly younger females, I think) become convinced they're overweight and get very depressed over that. However many of them aren't overweight at all, and I've seen photos of some who are positively skeletal, and yet their thoughts tell them they're fat.
I've had the opportunity to ask people why they they've turned to addictive substances, and they've answered the same thing - to one degree or another. They want to stop the thoughts that tell them that they're not good enough, or that there's something wrong with them, or an array of other negative things.
From many books I've read on the subject, I've become convinced that our thoughts are not our friends and that the mind can't be trusted. We have to take charge of our thoughts and reject the negative thoughts that flood in, while at the same time input positive thoughts of how we'd like to be and what we'd like to achieve as if these things are definitely possible - now. All the books on positive thinking agree with this.
I was watching The Last Samurai last night and these warriors gained mastery of their weapons and war craft by by-passing the mind - shutting off the mind and the thoughts. I've read that this is often the case when people want to achieve the unachievable. The mind is no help. It has to be stilled before anything can be achieved.
I've noticed that thinking a bunch of angry thoughts about others always leads me to feeling depressed after a time. However positive thoughts - about ourselves and others - always uplift and strengthen as they evoke a joyful reaction. Happiness gives energy; depression takes energy away.
It's great to think that we're not at the mercy of our circumstances, that we can control our lives and our attitudes and our emotions through controlling our minds. By rejecting thoughts that bring us down, and thoughts that are critical of others, we can control our mood to a remarkable degree.
Movies like The Secret express it by what the 'teachers' from the movie call the Law of Attraction. Whatever energy you put out, you attract back into your life. That is, if you think negative, defeatist thoughts, then these are the emotions and circumstances you will manifest. However if you choose to think thoughts about how wonderful, wise, successful you are, you will become this. You will attract these qualities/energies into your self and manifest experiences where you are acting accordingly to the way you think.
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