Why Do We Run From Bad Emotions and Feelings.

[Princess Arabia]

Why are we trying to avoid these negative sensations/emotions/feelings. I said negative but are they really. A sensation is a sensation and not really positive or negative, but these words are intertwined and can get tricky when defining but I'm sure you all know what I'm saying here.

We talk about bliss and happiness and joy and all those feel good ones in positive ways and we run from their opposites. We get depressed when something goes wrong and excited when something feels real good and sad when it feels bad and so on and so forth. 

Ok, that's life. Why run towards one more than the other. Yes, it feels good but what's wrong with feeling bad. We willingly watch movies that create negative emotions in us, but we run from those feelings in real life. Horror movies can make us feel fearful, and thrillers (my fav), feelings of anxiety and suspense, and we gladly put our buck on these for entertainment, but try to avoid these feelings in life. 

Oh bliss this and bliss that and let's strive for joy and happiness and feelings of excitement and all that. All transient just like their polar opposites. None of them lasts forever. We say our natural way of being is blissful but do we really know that. DO WE REALLY. Or is it neutral or just peaceful. No emotion whatsoever. Just tranquility. Whatever word best describes it. I think peaceful comes close. 

Do we really think life is about feeling good. Why? Just because it feels good. What's so great about that. Ok, feel good then what, feel bad, then feel good, then bad, then good,...Why can't life be shitty and that be ok. Why can't it be awful and depressing and that be ok. Why spend money to cure your depression and not spend it to cure your happiness. Is there a rule book that says we should all be happy. Isn't life just an expression of everything under the sun. I'm aware there are people who "self-sabotage" and purposely create negative feelings. I also beg to differ that it's actually self-sabotaging and just another expression of Infinity. 

I'm not advocating for us to start striving to feel bad and to not take care of your depressed state or anything of the sort; this is just a post to discuss this and share our thoughts on the matter.

P.S. Just to be clear, I'm not referring to physical pain as in stubbing one's toe or burning yourself or getting into a car accident.

Edited September 18 by Princess Arabia

[Keryo Koffa]

Because touching a hot stove feels... "ouch!"

And everything else extrapolates from this

Some more, some less reasonable/significant

[Buck Edwards]

There's both toxic positivity and toxic negativity. 

[Sugarcoat]

Paradoxically it seems that allowing negative sensations and emotions to be when they get triggered, not resisting them, is what helps in getting less of them, overcoming them. So actively going into situations that trigger those emotions in you allow them to be overcome

Edited September 18 by Sugarcoat

[Rishabh R]

Because we always want positive emotions but it is only going through negative emotions that we experience more strength , resilience and happiness.

[Princess Arabia]

Just now, Rishabh R said:

Because we always want positive emotion

But why?

[Rishabh R]

@Princess Arabia Because our thinking of happiness is flawed as we compare our moment of suffering with someone else's moment of happiness which is unrealistic and skewed comparison as nobody is happy all the time.

[Princess Arabia]

2 minutes ago, Sugarcoat said:

Paradoxically it seems that allowing negative sensations and emotions to be, not resisting them, is what helps in getting less of them, overcoming them.

Yeah, seems so. What you resist persists.

[Sugarcoat]

Just now, Princess Arabia said:

Yeah, seems so. What you resist persists.

Exactly 

[Rishabh R]

@Princess Arabia  yeah it's a great quote from Buddhism and also here's another great quotes,- The desire for a

Positive experience is itself a negative experience and paradoxically the acceptance and tolerance of a negative experience is itself a positive experience. Quoted by Mark Manson in his book - The Subtle Art of Not giving a ----.

[Keryo Koffa]

8 minutes ago, Sugarcoat said:

Paradoxically it seems that allowing negative sensations and emotions to be when they get triggered, not resisting them, is what helps in getting less of them, overcoming them. So actively going into situations that trigger those emotions in you allow them to be overcome

Almost like we're alchemizing  worries by processing them instead of keeping them out of awareness, hehe

Edited September 18 by Keryo Koffa

[Sugarcoat]

1 minute ago, Keryo Koffa said:

Almost like we're alchemizing  worries by processing them instead of keeping them out of awareness, hehe

Yea

[Princess Arabia]

4 minutes ago, Rishabh R said:

@Princess Arabia  yeah it's a great quote from Buddhism and also here's another great quotes,- The desire for a

Positive experience is itself a negative experience and paradoxically the acceptance and tolerance of a negative experience is itself a positive experience. Quoted by Mark Manson in his book - The Subtle Art of Not giving a ----.

Yea; I've seen that quote somewhere before. Thought it was interesting.

[SOUL]

Sure there are 'books' to cure happiness...it's called social media.

[Keryo Koffa]

2 minutes ago, SOUL said:

Sure there are 'books' to cure happiness...it's called social media.

That's just the contingency procedure in case it survives school

[Princess Arabia]

3 minutes ago, SOUL said:

Sure there are 'books' to cure happiness...it's called social media.

lol

[Rishabh R]

@SOUL And their overuse causes distress.

[SOUL]

@Princess Arabia  To respond to your topic, emotions are just stimuli in our mind to instigate behavior. It's just that people also overlay a binary concept of good/bad over the top of them that may not really exist.

Although, it isn't necessarily a clear cut binary people employ, there's often alot of gray or mixed areas where the same emotions have both positive and negative conceptions about it or are inverted depending on circumstances.

Even many of the 'nonduality' crowd uses a binary to describe their experience, though it seems like a contradiction. This isn't to criticize them but it just shows how ingrained in the psyche it is to frame experience and stimuli in this way.

I can admit as I cultivate well being and there are expression dynamics from that I recognize it's also a nod towards this same type of framing, though it is less moralistic than the good/bad or right/wrong implications can be.

Edited September 18 by SOUL

[Keryo Koffa]

@SOUL  < ( "Wait, it's all ego?" )

🔫  < ( "Always has been" )

Unless you wanna *King Crimson* me with a dif    nt take

Edited September 18 by Keryo Koffa

[Princess Arabia]

7 minutes ago, SOUL said:

@Princess Arabia  To respond to your topic, emotions are just stimuli in our mind to instigate behavior. It's just that people also overlay a binary concept of good/bad over the top of them that may not really exist.

Although, it isn't necessarily a clear cut binary people employ, there's often alot of gray or mixed areas where the same emotions have both positive and negative conceptions about it or are inverted depending on circumstances.

Even many of the 'nonduality' crowd uses a binary to describe their experience, though it seems like a contradiction. This isn't to criticize them but it just shows how ingrained in the psyche it is to frame experience and stimuli in this way.

I can admit as I cultivate well being and there are expression dynamics from that I recognize it's also a nod towards this same type of framing, though it is less moralistic than the good/bad or right/wrong implications can be.

Have to digest this for a minute to process.