Thoughts and emotions, Which comes first?


In my mind, emotions attach to thoughts. Certain thoughts manifest with the same emotion every time they enter our consciousness.


Feeling helpless in a dangerous situation, imprints this trauma with these same emotions.

PTSD triggers can activate our fight or flight mechanism, dumping cortisol and adrenaline into our blood stream, intensifying the already scary emotions.


We think we are in real danger. The mind is in panic mode as emotional fear freezes us. We may try to fight our triggers fears the first couple of firings, however in due time, we freeze to the constant eruption of cortisol and panic.


What can we do?


Understand emotions are fleeting, ephemeral and transparent.


That means emotions come and go, over and over again. They arrive, stay a while then exit.  They are like ghosts, coming and going on their own.  


Count how many emotions you experience in an hour.


We all have the same amount of emotions. An emotion definitely does not define any of us.


Buddhist have no words for emotions, being present and aware is more important.


So we need to experience our emotions fully then release them.


We try to make good feelings or happiness last and bad feeling end.



That engages us in a tug of war we always lose.



Our greatest strength is our ability to experience these emotions then let them go.


We are not engaging cognitively or emotionally, we are focusing on the breath, exploring the body sensations with curiosity.


What fires together wires together. Where we place our attention thrives, where we withdraw our attention, whither and dies.


Know your emotions do not impact your thoughts. Discount your thoughts and emotions attached to them.


Why wrestle with past thought when life is passing us by.


Trade thought and emotion for the only place happiness thrives, now.



Observe from a distance, see the big picture.

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