Thinking About Thoughts, Emotions and Happiness

· by · in Fiction. ·

We think about millions of things every day. Every second, our thought processes change their track and compel us to chase the trails they leave behind. Irrespective of how strong you are, how firmly you hold control over your emotions, or, how vulnerable and soft-natured one is, we seldom find ourselves wielding a sceptre of command on our thoughts.

Thoughts can be induced by anything we see around us, even our sub-conscious mind can give rise to thoughts galore. It’s impossible to trace the exact point or thing that gives rise to a particular thought. It’s a continuous line of consciousness having no definite pattern, manifesting itself through some complex brain processes.

Mental cognitions or discernments are the ideas, perspectives, feelings and emotions about ourselves and the world around us. They are a conglomeration of our views, the way we perceive things around us and they play a substantial role in building up our ‘characters’.

Thoughts which we rear for years define our attitudes. A particular incident can trigger different thoughts in different individuals depending on their attitudes and point of views about life. While it’s difficult to control thought, we can change their nature if we try consciously. This is because, as I’ve said earlier, thoughts are shaped by life experiences, family background, culture, education and environment. So, if you are aware of the positive and negative sides of your thoughts and attitudes, there is enough room for rectification.

Another thing is, thoughts are deeply associated with emotions. Now, What are emotions? Emotions are a flow of uncontrollable feelings that are often triggered by external factors.While emotions (sadness, joy, anger, compassion, terror) are universal, the way they affect different persons are different thereby inducing different thought processes.

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Emotions are universal and contagious. A tragic accident would evoke almost same, if not identical, emotions but the same incident would make people think differently and uniquely. So, though thoughts and emotions are interconnected, the former one has stronger and more independent stand in human minds.

We are the sum of our thoughts and what we choose to dwell on and indulge ourselves in, dictate our emotions.

“It’s a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy.” Lucille Désirée Ball

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The key to happiness, thus, to some extent, lies in our own hands. Dr Sonja Lyubomirsky, the author of the book “The How of Happiness” and a positivity researcher, says, about 40% of happiness depends on our intentions and how we choose to look at life. Happiness is a state of mind which makes us fuller and closer to our own selves. Happiness is not a chimerical dream. A little change in our views, a few positive approaches and love for life can make us happy. It resides within us. We just have to feel it, grasp it and make it tangible in our own ways. And, while doing this, just stop paying too much attention to others. Because, practically and scientifically too, your happiness is unique to your thoughts and have nothing to do with others. Once we are able to follow the path of happiness, we don’t have to seize it anymore, it’ll seize us anyway.

#StayHappy

112 responses to “Thinking About Thoughts, Emotions and Happiness”

  1. Pingback: What is Wrong in Being a Slut – Part 2 | Slutylish·

  2. Wow! Wonderful post, totally agree with everything you said!
    I hope more people understand these (not so evident facts).
    Thank you for sharing!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. so, you mean I am responsible for the drastic highs and lows in my everyday life :p
    Jokes apart, yes I agree. If I choose to be sad, no one can make me happy. So, I’m currently enjoying being depressed 😀

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Beautiful article Maniparna!! One can never chase happiness.
    I agree with these words to a very great extent. The responsibility undeniably rests in our hands and a little change in attitude can spawn major transformations:)

    Liked by 1 person

  10. I completely tow in with the line of thoughts presented here, Maniparna. Much of our happiness depends on how we chose to look at things – a lot of it is intrinsic. As for ourselves, we can consciously work towards reducing the impact of external factors in how those effect or influence us. Loved the way you have summarized the gist of the book.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Excellent Mani.. We become what we think.. And our thoughts create.. even the ones which say we do not wish this or that to happen.. If our intent is focused strongly enough into our don’t wants.. They too will materialize..
    Happiness is not out there.. But found within.. Its a state of BEing..
    So when we learn that its our inner thoughts that prevent us from obtaining happiness.. It is only we who can change it , by altering our thinking through our thoughts and emotions..

    A great post full of insights.
    Much love to you Mani.. Have a wonderful week.. Sue xx ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    • ” It is only we who can change it , by altering our thinking through our thoughts and emotions..” you said, Sue…it’s just like that. Only we can change our thought processes and eventually comes the rectification… 🙂 Thanks so much for such deep words… ❤

      Liked by 1 person

  12. When we learn how to quiet those thoughts or what I term the “monkeys”, we can actually begin to think straight. Becoming aware of just how many thoughts are running around in our heads is overwhelming! I know. I’ve been working on gaining “quiet” for years. GREAT post, dear Maniparna!!! Much Love to you! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Very true! Life is much too short to spend in misery. It appears that many measure their happiness based on material wealth. Lucky is the person who has just enough and not too much stuff. In this way, one can concentrate on being happy for the right reason — just because it feels good to laugh and be content than it does to cry and always want.

    Lovely message. 🌹🦋

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Great article about thoughts and emotions. True, that happiness is within self and can be found once our approach and thought is positive. Thank you. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  22. What a lovely and thought-provoking post, Mani 🙂 It reminds me of the movie Inside Out in so many ways. Happiness as an isolated emotion is difficult to think of.. The background talks about the trade-offs, the toil and hardwork and perhaps the near-misses. Makes the happiness worthwhile to enjoy and reminiscence.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Now, that’s a well-thought process on our emotions and happiness. I feel it’s quite complex to waver our inner self and how things affect us at the deep subconscious level. You have explained them in detail and going deep, to the point. Cheerz

    Liked by 1 person

  30. Wow Mani.. How well you have expressed your thoughts on thoughts and emotions. Very true, our way of thinking depends on many factors like education, family background, friend’s circle and experience. You have beautifully described the process of thoughts. If we can realize the difference between the positive and negative thoughts, we can rectify our flaws and feel happier. Very well put. And superb vocabulary too.

    I was on a long break from WordPress. Hope you are doing great. Stay blessed. Have a good time. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Indeed Mani such a wonderful reflection on thoughts and emotions…two intangibles that govern our existence and the way we behave with others and live our life. Everything that we do and everything that we achieve in our life is a direct function of what we think and how we feel about ourselves. Yes, millions of thoughts hit us everyday and we have no clue where from it gets triggered and where it goes, it just keep coming and the spectrum of thoughts are wide to wild and there is no rhyme and rhythm of these stream of thoughts. We are what we think and we reap what we think.

    Thoughts and emotions are closely inter linked, though emotions are universal but we all react differently to a situation and many time our reaction emanates from what we have been thinking and what thought has been dominating our mind. Indeed it such a fascinating thought to think where from these thoughts get generated in our mind and how these thoughts are unfathomable. Many times we do so consciously and many other time it happen unconsciously and we have no control, we try our best to get some degree of semblance to our act of thinking and the thoughts that decides our fate.

    Ultimately, we all want to be happy and yes, happiness is a state of mind, and it is the outcome of our thoughts, actions and words that we use and the way we do our work. You have presented a deeply thought provoking topic and the subject matters are highly intriguing and insightful…it has taken me into a new stream of thoughts and I am enjoying this new journey of thoughts and emotions, and I am sure happiness will follow me…
    Thanks so much Mani for sharing such a lovely post.
    😀

    Liked by 1 person

  36. Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony, observed Gandhi. Our deepest thoughts can be in harmony with our words and actions only if they are in alignment with goodness, not otherwise. If thoughts, words and action are in conflict, it certainly leads to sorrow.

    Liked by 1 person

  39. Thank you! ❤ My spiritual mentor John Morton has said something like, If we want to be happy, do happy things. So important to have positive self-talk and a good attitude.

    Your blog is very good. Many blessings – Debbie

    Liked by 1 person

  41. Nice reflections Mani.
    While happiness is an emotion, it is dependent on thoughts to be a part of our persona…when we keep our thoughts positive, happiness gets a quick channel to breathe beautiful messages. That doesn’t mean negative thoughts can be brushed aside! They refuse to be shoved till we talk to them and convince them they they could be mistaken, they must wait and see the outcome. Once we calm down negative thoughts, we start feeling better and happy. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  42. “Thoughts which we rear for years define our attitudes.”

    Yeah, and I learned that the more you think about negative thoughts the more likely you are to have anxiety because that’s halfway in your brain become so strong.

    Thanks for such a thoughtful post 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  45. Excellent Mani – I am reminded of a quote by the Buddha “All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts. If a man speak or act with an evil thought, suffering follows him as the wheel follows the hoof of the beast that draws the wagon…. If a man speak or act with a good thought, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.” take care 🙏😊

    Liked by 2 people

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