Want to see something cool? As you read this, take a moment to look inward. Notice how your body feels, what thoughts are weighing on your mind, and what emotions you’re feeling. Are you feeling anxious, content, happy?
Now I want you to pick the emotion you’d like to feel – preferably an enjoyable one. Once you have it, visualize a time in your life when you felt that emotion strongly. Place yourself in that time, in those thoughts, and in that feeling. Once you have it, bring it to the present moment.
Life happens on a moment to moment basis. The past is gone, the future is nothing but a concept, the only thing you have access to is this moment. You have the ability to live each moment in any emotion you choose. It just takes practice and awareness of the present state.
The brain is incredibly smart, I won’t deny that, but it has its weaknesses. One of those being its inability to know what’s real or designed. You can use this to your advantage.
Emotions are simply a mixture of chemicals released by your brain that you’ve learned to associate as one thing or another. A busy shift at work causes a release of chemicals that you then associate as stress. Working on your creative project releases chemicals that you associate with happiness, euphoria, or calm.
Knowing this, you can choose how you want to feel on a moment to moment basis. Doing so requires you to realize you live in the present moment and desire to make a change. This is not an easy task. I’ve been working on this recently, but I often fail to do so.
This has been my process: I feel an unwanted emotion, I become aware of it, I tell myself “I want to feel *insert emotion*” (typically gratitude), I try feeling it throughout my body, and I list some things I’m grateful for at that moment.
This process will be different for each of us, but the steps should follow a similar path. You’ll just need to determine what works for you. Notice your current state, pause and ground yourself in the present, choose a desired emotion, feel it through your mind and body, and express it outwardly in some manner.
You have the ability to decide how you feel on a moment to moment basis. Wouldn’t you rather feel grateful than anxious, happy over sad, or calm instead of stressed? Realize you can make this choice then work towards incorporating the practice into your life.
June 3, 2022
