How we see is the determining factor in our lives. It determines how we are, and to some extent, even how life happens to us. So it is much better to be concerned with seeing what is than with getting or doing or feeling something that should-be-but-isn’t. – Polly Berrien Berends
I had coffee with a friend today who told me he doesn’t always try to understand the thinking or mistaken ideas behind his negative feelings. He just tries to notice when it happens and replaces it with a positive affirmation of some kind.
I’ve not had much success with this approach. Affirmations don’t seem to do much for me, though I’m not ruling them out. I do better with curiosity, ie, “Hey, I’m feeling shitty. If I’m suffering, then I’m not seeing things correctly, which means life’s trying to teach me something. So I wonder what it is this time?”