You create your feelings (whether you like it or not)
OK friends listen up, because what I’m about to share with you is THE SECRET to happiness.
This is especially important for us vegans, who feel so much negative emotion -- Anguish, frustration, disappointment, despair, isolation, anger…mostly with the non-vegan world.
I get it. I’ve been there, and I still go there sometimes. But what I share here is my “get out of jail free” card. It enables me to feel better and escape the vortex of Vystopia before it truly sucks me in.
Here it is:
>>> YOU CREATE YOUR OWN FEELINGS <<<
That’s right. They don’t just happen to you.
They are not created by your ex, your in-laws, your boss, the animal-ag industry or even by anti-vegan trolls. Your feelings are created by the THOUGHTS that you have about these people and their actions.
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Now here’s the really good news:
>>> YOU GET TO CHOOSE YOUR OWN THOUGHTS <<<
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If you are hearing this concept for the first time ever, let that sink in for a minute.
Some of you may feel a little triggered by this.
“What?! Choose my own thoughts? That’s preposterous!!”
Before you go into melt-down let me make this clear:
It doesn’t mean that if you are feeling bad, it’s your own fault. In fact, if you are feeling bad right now, you’re probably blaming me. But blame doesn’t need to come into it. Awareness and responsibility are far more helpful.
What I’m saying is that once you understand this concept, you get to take responsibility for your thoughts and feelings – powerfully and intentionally.
Would you prefer to be the one who decides how you feel, or would you rather delegate that responsibility to other people and to circumstances?
Doesn’t it feel good to know that you have that option?
There will of course be times when you want to feel negative emotion. Times when you choose to be angry, sad, or to grieve. And that is perfectly fine. We need to experience negative emotion in order to appreciate the positive.
And what an empowering feeling it is to own a negative emotion! To feel anger with intention, and to use it as a powerful motivating force for positive action. To say “I choose to feel angry because I won’t stand for this and I’m going to do something about it!” -- feels amazing.
Contrast that with feeling negative emotion and blaming others for it. How hopeless and disempowering does that feel to give control over your feelings away to other people and to random circumstance? That’s called being in victim mentality, and I can tell you from experience, it feels terrible.
Luckily there are some simple techniques for feeling and processing negative emotion in a way that serves you. Much of my work revolves around sharing and teaching these techniques. Check out my other blog posts and socials for more on this.
For now, I invite you to consider – are you delegating responsibility for your feelings to other people? What might it belike to take that back?