One of the fascinating things about feelings is that they come and go, like waves in the ocean of our consciousness. Happiness, anger, fear, love, thankfulness...they arise in response to some external or internal trigger and then subside. We feel angry, and then we don't. We are "in love" and then we aren't. We feel thankful and then it's over.
As we grow, one of our spiritual tasks is to move beyond this purely emotional response to life and to cultivate positive emotions as "habits of the heart". what this means is that we learn to love even when we don't "feel" loving, be kind when we'd rather be surly and be grateful even when we don't "feel" like being thankful. In this way, we turn feelings, which come and go, into conscious attitudes that we act upon even if we don't "feel" like it.
Our attitudes are our mental stances, the positions we hold vis-a-vis in life. In some ways our attitudes determine everything, because they are the glasses through which we see the world. Is the world a wonderful place or a hellhole? All of us know that the answer to that question depends on our attitude on any given day. Has the world changed? most likely our thinking about it has. When we consciously cultivate positive attitudes such as love, joy, and gratitude, we begin to "remake" the world. We literally live in a different place because our attitudes about it have changed.
The particular beauty of an attitude of gratitude is that it instantly connects us to everything else. In an important way it is the recognition of the connection, the switch, between us and the rest of life and consciously recognizing it opens the flow: the more grateful we are, the more of an abundant sense of life we will experience.
For that's the irony (even paradox) about the relationship between attitudes and feelings. The more you cultivate the attitude, even if you don't feel it, the more you experience the feeling! The more loving we are, the more love we feel. The more joy we radiate, the more comes back our way. The more thankful we are, the more we experience the richness of spirit that grateful feelings produce.
I take no credit for this post. It was a response to a question I asked a friend of mine in fellowship in NJ. I think both he and I are very much on the same wavelength about a lot of things.
Love and Light
Phil
xx
As we grow, one of our spiritual tasks is to move beyond this purely emotional response to life and to cultivate positive emotions as "habits of the heart". what this means is that we learn to love even when we don't "feel" loving, be kind when we'd rather be surly and be grateful even when we don't "feel" like being thankful. In this way, we turn feelings, which come and go, into conscious attitudes that we act upon even if we don't "feel" like it.
Our attitudes are our mental stances, the positions we hold vis-a-vis in life. In some ways our attitudes determine everything, because they are the glasses through which we see the world. Is the world a wonderful place or a hellhole? All of us know that the answer to that question depends on our attitude on any given day. Has the world changed? most likely our thinking about it has. When we consciously cultivate positive attitudes such as love, joy, and gratitude, we begin to "remake" the world. We literally live in a different place because our attitudes about it have changed.
The particular beauty of an attitude of gratitude is that it instantly connects us to everything else. In an important way it is the recognition of the connection, the switch, between us and the rest of life and consciously recognizing it opens the flow: the more grateful we are, the more of an abundant sense of life we will experience.
For that's the irony (even paradox) about the relationship between attitudes and feelings. The more you cultivate the attitude, even if you don't feel it, the more you experience the feeling! The more loving we are, the more love we feel. The more joy we radiate, the more comes back our way. The more thankful we are, the more we experience the richness of spirit that grateful feelings produce.
I take no credit for this post. It was a response to a question I asked a friend of mine in fellowship in NJ. I think both he and I are very much on the same wavelength about a lot of things.
Love and Light
Phil
xx
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