Since all of these ”articles” are really just part of my “living writing“ or “dynamic journal” of sorts, - My sketches of life on these topics are not comprehensively captured. Everyone has to start somewhere. So this is my step one. The beginning of my captures; the loose foundation that I am slowly shaping.
Article 5
July 9, 2019
kks
Thoughts.
Our thoughts drive or influence our emotions.
Think it. Live it.
This is not a new concept. This has been around since Solomon was King, around 970-931 BC.
“For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he:” Proverbs 23:7a
The mind is a most powerful source of influence. I will not attempt to dissect the mystery of the influence that thoughts have on our actions, except to recognize that every thought has a direction. Every thought produces.
This is where the deep sifting begins.
If my thoughts are that powerful, what thoughts am I producing that are shaping what adds up to make up my life? There are the parts of my life that I love. How are my thoughts anchored so they produce these pieces of my life that come out well?
Wait. What about the pieces of my life that I am not crazy about? How do I “produce” these undesirable pieces of my life?
Okay, so this is where merging the complexities of thoughts, emotions, and actions starts to converge and get jumbled up.
Up to this point it is easy to see actions, emotions and thoughts as separate.
Actions are the most visible. Actions are easiest to target for what we want to change.
Thoughts are less visible but still accessible to consider.
Emotions can appear almost invisible even though you know they are there.
This is where everything visible (actions) starts to appear more concrete... because this is what we can see with our eyes and ears... but the action is driven by power sources that are not as visible... thoughts and feelings (emotions).
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What is the difference between emotions and feelings?
Taken from Pediaa.com an information clearinghouse. I like the simple distinction that this chart reflects.
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In this image below, at first glance you see the action points, the dark green dots. As you look a little longer the thoughts, orange dots, become more visible too. Next, even looking fairly carefully, the emotions/feelings are actually hard to see, even though you know they are there.
For example, we can see and hear pure laughter. To experience laughter, we have had to have had a happy thought which produced a happy emotion which facilitated the sight and sound of laughter. A dismal thought cannot produce an authentic happy expression.
Our internal communication system has a “program” it follows. This is where building a system that is congruent between the interplay of thoughts, emotions and actions becomes somewhat “routine.”
For kids that grow up from birth to 3 in an environment of severe abuse and neglect their system gets built with significant breeches of the development of their internal communication system. These breeches have been studied enough to begin to qualify these “adverse childhood experiences” as having eerily predictive accuracy about what actions are exhibited when these children grow up.
(I need to track down the scene in this video where the a kid “flash” grows up from a sweet and innocent boy to a dark and dismal adult in a matter of seconds)
Essentially, we are at risk of becoming the sum of our patterns. This is where we enter into the crossroads of where our experience/actions, feelings, and thoughts converge.
For many years, this is as far as my view and understanding about what drove the behavior of myself and others went.
It is here that I will shift gears and begin to walk through my next series of frameworks.
Yes. You’re right. There is still a blank not filled in at the top of this model. We will circle back around to complete this model after we’ve spent some time walking through some other frameworks to help us sift and become more aware.
As our awareness increases...
we then have a chance to shift...
As we shift, we can begin to see...
As we can start to see...
We can then begin the practice of “seeing through.” As we begin to “see through”...
we can access more effective resources... We then can access one of the most powerful resources known to all of mankind... We then have access to H O P E. And H O P E does not disappoint.
H O P E will be our guide THROUGH.
Any predictions as to where this next model begins?
