There are only 2 types of feelings, positive and negative feelings and both are created by our thoughts. Sometimes when I work with a client, they may not be able to tell me what they are feeling and sometimes we start with are you opened or closed. But what is so funny to me is that the only way we know what one feeling feels like is because we know the other side of that feeling. For instance, have you ever been sick, like for more than 3 days sick? You know what healthy feels like after 3 days of sick. But when you have been healthy for years you begin to not know what healthy feels like. Without unhappiness, happiness can’t exist. That is how the world works, and because of that, we can accept both sides of the feelings. I can handle sadness, because I have experienced happy. I love to feel excited, because I know what nervous feels like. I can’t have one without the other.
Also, there is a degree of intensity to each feeling, like; fear that then turns into terror, or surprise that turns to amazement.
That happens by you thinking that thought more, and then adding other thoughts, that also make you feel that same feeling. I like to practice thinking a thought that gets me excited, and spend more time thinking about it, and adding more thoughts that get me excited, and it intensifies for me. For instance, we are headed to the beach soon and the more I think thoughts of anticipation, the more excited I become. I start thinking about all the things we will do at the beach and my excitement grows. I am in control of the intensity of the feeling. If I want to feel really excited, I focus my thoughts towards, “I can’t wait to be at the beach, we are going to have so much fun, etc…” Sometimes I just walk around saying, “We’re going to the beach!” All of these thoughts get me anticipating the event with excitement. Do you want to know how to feel dread? Think about all the things you have to do to get to the beach, all the packing, all the driving, all the…. You get my point. I am in control of my feelings. I can make them more intense or less intense based on my THOUGHTS. I can choose which feelings I want to have, and practice those thoughts more and more. Believe me, I LOVE being excited so I am practicing all of those thoughts, even as I begin to pack or clean beach toys, with sand from over a year ago.
I dare you to practice thinking thoughts on purpose that get you feeling a certain way and then intensify them based on adding more thoughts that make you feel that feeling even more. You may be surprised at how fun this is.