Sadness and Anger Happen
And the less aware you are of what is causing them, the more you feel like a victim of them. For many of us, these emotions seem to strike out of the blue. As if there were a cruel God out there playing tricks on us.
But if you look a little closer, you may find that these emotions don’t just come from nowhere.
Sadness and Anger Can’t Happen in a Vacuum
Negative emotions always come associated with some kind of thought. It doesn’t really matter if the thought comes first, or the emotion comes first. But when you believe a stressful thought, the two become inseparable.
I like to think of my thoughts as causing my emotions. It’s a useful perspective to take when doing The Work. Because all I need to do then to free myself from these emotions is to take inventory of the associated thoughts and question them. And it works.
You pull up the root, and the flower can no longer bloom.
That’s All We’re Doing in The Work
Noticing the emotions. Noticing the associated thoughts. Writing them down. And turning them around.
You simply have to experience it to understand how simple this process really is.
Have a great week,
Todd
“One criticism of The Work I consistently hear is that it’s just too simple. People say, ‘Freedom can’t be this simple!’ I answer, ‘Can you really know that that’s true?'” — Byron Katie, Loving What Is
