Emotions: Are They Automatic?

by Rene'e LaMontagne

​EMOTIONS:  ARE THEY AUTOMATIC?   (by Rene’e La Montagne)
 
“...for all practical purposes, we choose everything we do, including the misery we feel. Other people can neither make us miserable nor make us happy. All we can get from them or give to them is information. But, by itself, information cannot make us do or feel anything. It goes into our brains, where we process it and then decide what to do....we choose all our actions and thoughts and, indirectly, almost all our feelings and much of our physiology.”
–William Glasser, M.D., world-renowned psychiatrist
 
Surprising? 
 
A few months ago, I was teaching a class to about 20 women, ages 20-75.  I asked the question, “Can we control our emotions?”  The majority of the attendees stated that emotions are automatic, that life situations cause certain feelings, and emotions are not consciously fostered or deliberately chosen, but are just a mindless reaction to life.  Most felt that as women (especially), we are “controlled” by our emotions, and that our reactions are (just) “programmed.”
 
Then I asked another question, “Do you think that emotions could actually be choices?”  That sparked an interesting discussion.   Not many had ever contemplated that thought.  Rumblings in the room came back to me as, “I can’t control what I feel!” and, “We (as women) are just built that way.” and, “We are women; we FEEL everything!”
 
As a woman, and prior to learning the tools and concepts taught in VisionLightTM Essentials, I, too, believed I was at the mercy of my feelings, my emotions.  My whole life has been run by my emotions.  Boy, was I in for a wonderful discovery!  I pondered how many times I had “reacted” to life negatively, adding more turmoil and more complications to certain life issues and situations.
 
Fortunately, I have learned I CAN control—and even direct--my emotions. 
 
Our paradigms are built by life experience.  We choose to live by certain beliefs, philosophies, personal boundaries.  We “react” to situations by an emotional filtering system that brings about a negative or positive response.  Our past paradigms typically guide our interactions in life.  People naturally respond to stimuli based on past experience—or, reactively, in response to an issue that “feels good,” or “feels bad.” 
 
We can learn to control, foster, develop and manifest our thoughts.  We can learn to navigate this world by deliberate choice, even how we feel, how we react, and how we ACT as a response to certain stimuli.
 
In the process of “unwinding myself,” I am learning what paradigms evoke negative reactions.  (This is an on-going exercise for me, so I am still discovering and rebuilding the inside of me.)  I analyzed my hot buttons, evaluated my belief system, and began unraveling the complicated past traumas that bring about certain negative emotions even today.  I am recognizing triggers. I am exploring my fears, evaluating my comfort zone, my attitudes.
 
I am learning to STOP my deleterious thought processes that cause my negative reactions.  Emotions ARE a choice and can be controlled and relearned.  I certainly do not want to carry bad experiences with me throughout my lifetime; nor do I want to react to life unconstructively as old, ugly feelings surface. The “pits in my stomach” can be deliberately emulsified and dissolved.  I choose to foster love and compassion, and if that is truly my life mission, I can assess what in me sabotages my deliberate choices to be a better me.
 
I recently lost my dear brother to cancer.  We were close, and his journey through the agony of this hostile disease was courageous.  We all knew he was dying, but, still, when that kind of news comes, it seems unreal, a dream, and hard to comprehend.  He was here one minute, and the next, he is gone.  I will miss him dearly, and cherish the memories we had together. 
 
Walking through the grief process, the mechanics of thought choice is a new experience for me.  Though I am practicing and (hopefully) mastering how to deliberately choose my thoughts, this is a big test.  When I find myself caught up in the grief, I assess what is blooming in my head.  If my thoughts are productive, I leave them and allow them.  If they are debilitating and too hard to bear, I chose a new thought to replace the painful one, and my mind takes me on a journey purposely to nourish the good that has come from my brother’s death:  he is out of pain; he is with the Lord; he is with my parents; he is safe and happy and is now awaiting my return to heaven.  My heart still aches, but I am steering the ship in safe harbors.  It would be dangerous to “mask” my feelings over his death.  I believe I need to feel the loss, the pain.  But I also believe I am approaching this in a very healthy way so that the loss does not overcome me or paralyze me.  My emotions are “in check,” and though I have allowed myself to cry and feel the pain, I do not dwell there.  I choose to re-direct my thinking and plant the seeds in my heart and head that will allow me to process and grow.
 
I submit to you that you, too, can learn to weed out and re-direct the thoughts and feelings that cause you distress and physical/mental anguish.  It is a process; but it is still a choice.  We can either let sleeping dogs lie, or we can proactively disarm those feelings that bring about negative gut reactions that sabotage our desire to grow/overcome/become. 
 
I am learning to ignite my life lived by intentional design rather than default.  I am transforming my problems into solutions, my barriers into breakthroughs, my defeats into victories.  My personal relationships are improving, my business is thriving, my attitudes are expanding, I am realizing success in so many areas of my life.   With the VisionLightTM tools, I am rebuilding me from the inside out….and I like who I am becoming!  I REJOICE at all the possibilities ahead!

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW TO CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS, SEE:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2017/10/15/the-secret-to-controlling-your-emotions-before-they-control-you/#354446a437de  
AND
https://www.quora.com/Can-thoughts-feelings-and-emotions-be-controlled-by-oneself
AND
​http://web.csulb.edu/~tstevens/h21choic.htm