The happiness in your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts🦋 - Marcus Aurelius

[Nikolai80]

Emotions/feelings like joy give quality to our lives..
(Offcourse when you have physical pain its hard or impossible to experience joy....)
Those emotions and how you feel are being influenced by the thoughts you have...
The thoughts you believe to be true has impact on your emotions.
You can have many thoughts. Some you discard, but the thoughts you believe to be true has impact on how you feel and your emotions..

Anything can happen in life, but the thoughts you believe to be true about it has impact on how you feel.

Thats why something can happen in life and 1 person may become sad...the other may become angry....but another person can become happy with the same thing that happened.

How do you perceive what happened?
They way you perceive things determine how you think and feel about it.

Thats why some people could live an identical life yet one may be sad or depressed and the other may be cheerful and joyful in the same situation.

Therefore its not exactly what happens in our lives that make us feel a certain way, but its the way we perceive what happens..

Perception makes why some people experience a heaven on earth: innerpeace, joy love, while other people experience a hell on earth: feeling miserable, sad , depressed, frustrated, angry all the time...
Perception creates thoughts and those thoughts have impact on your emotions...

 

[John K]

Perhaps all of these viewpoints are lacking. It's like the parable of the elephant - it's as valid and invalid to be only aware of its back end as it is to be only aware of its eye. The whole elephant is the synthesis of all such perceptions from every angle, and much more besides. Reality is like this, I feel. I cannot approach it unless I drink the cup of perception from as many angles as I can, whether joyful or sad, hurtful or healing, dazzling or opaque. In the end, I am no longer outside looking in, a bit at a time, but inside looking out as well - and for the brief instant that happens, 'all manner of thing shall be well'.

 

[Nikolai80]

Perhaps all of these viewpoints are lacking. It's like the parable of the elephant - it's as valid and invalid to be only aware of its back end as it is to be only aware of its eye. The whole elephant is the synthesis of all such perceptions from every angle, and much more besides. Reality is like this, I feel. I cannot approach it unless I drink the cup of perception from as many angles as I can, whether joyful or sad, hurtful or healing, dazzling or opaque. In the end, I am no longer outside looking in, a bit at a time, but inside looking out as well - and for the brief instant that happens, 'all manner of thing shall be well'.

Well...
I use it like this:

I realize emotional discomfort and pain is a signal to get my attention to do something about a situation.
Something has triggerd me to feel bad..
Something happened which i viewed negativily.
I can try to change external what triggered it but if i can not then i try to talk to myself give different perspectives on the subject, or off the subject...all part of truth, but i try to convince myself to believe different about the situation.
I know when i truly convinced myself, when the negativity inside of me goes away..
In this way i bring back quality in my life by feeling much better and perhaps even happy again.

I value innerpeace, joy and love a lot.
So when that experience can get disturbed i do something about it internally..
It has to do with what i believe about the situation and convincing myself to believe its less bad for instance..
Or sometimed even when i cant find any better point of view at it i take my focus off the subject...this way i get stimules in my thoughts about something else and that can also make me feel better...

 

[John K]

That sounds like a healthy attitude to pursue. Don't discount the way adversity affects us emotionally and practically though - and what it takes to see us through such times in our lives. As Rumi has said in different ways, it's through the cracks where we are broken that the light can best get through to us. I wouldn't seek such things out, and always look to remove or reduce them, but they have made my life three dimensional - it would have stayed two-dimensional without them. Finding inner peace in despite of - and because of - all that is the gold of the gods. But sometimes we have to pass through rather than avoid, at least that's been the case for myself.

 

[Wyote]

Perceiving things as bad isn't bad or wrong in itself.
We need emotional response for guidance.
Understanding the "why/how" behind what is perceived as "bad" can help us let go though.
Experiencing bad feelings is good (at times), holding on to them too long is what creates problems.
Heaven on Earth is acceptance and faith, not the removal of evil/bad thoughts/things.

 

[moonsea]

While I do respect positive thinking in other people, this is difficult for me to produce on my own simply because the quality of one's life is unfortunately affected by the decisions made by others, or a group against one person. Whenever the Happiness Index gets brought up, a pattern is always observed: A country wherein its leaders prioritizes the inherent desires of people as well as the Maslow's Hierarchy base necessities almost always comes out on top.. while countries where it specifically seeks to place most or all power to an extreme select few while expecting everybody else to cower around to cover their own needs tend to suffer as a result.

In a country where medical and educational debt is as common as squirrels in a park, I am easily moved into a state of negativity and helplessness as a result of this. I could will myself into thinking happier thoughts, but it won't make my bills disappear. Especially since I know there are other people out there who don't have to go through the same things as I do. I admit, it does make me feel bitter from time to time. And I don't think there's anything wrong with how I feel about this, either.

There are those living in extreme poverty and are able to feel happy in many moments of their lives, and there are others in enviable positions - such as those living in royalty or are world famous for their talents - who end up committing suicide. I think the fact that loneliness is becoming a huge issue where I live only compounds the unhappiness level in my country, and may explain why those who live in unsavory environments can still thrive happily: Ultimately, community and feeling a sense of belonging helps soften the blow of the government's cruel indifference to its people's suffering.

Sometimes, it is not as simple as perception. Sometimes, something needs to change.

 

[Nikolai80]

That sounds like a healthy attitude to pursue. Don't discount the way adversity affects us emotionally and practically though - and what it takes to see us through such times in our lives. As Rumi has said in different ways, it's through the cracks where we are broken that the light can best get through to us. I wouldn't seek such things out, and always look to remove or reduce them, but they have made my life three dimensional - it would have stayed two-dimensional without them. Finding inner peace in despite of - and because of - all that is the gold of the gods. But sometimes we have to pass through rather than avoid, at least that's been the case for myself.

Well.
IVe suffered a lot on life mentally and emotionally...
When life went up and down, many times down my emotions went with it like a jojo...
Nowadays it seems i found stability in instability.
The beauty of life that i experience comes mostly from within now...
THe lotus grow out of the mud, no mud no lotus..
Well ive had the mud, im in the lotus now since 3.5 years.. im 43 now and the big change came around my 40's..

I always say:
Nobody wants the unwanted dark tunnel in their lives, but their is some kind of justice in it.
It seems the longer and darker the tunnel, the brighter the light once and if you make it..

Ive gone through so much emotionally and mentally before that ive become so grateful that i most of the time experience joy for not specifik reason.
When i wake up in the morning realizing im still here and i dont feel bad i almost become euforic. Walking all day with a smile on my face.
Im in a very nice place within me now....
A lot of joy...a lot of love.....and innerpeace...i feel calmness which feels like the serenity of the night...
WHat i experience nowadays is big contrast to before in my life...
I know for sure that the major suffering in my life has brought me to this point...
Talking about a blessing that came out of a curse....

 

[tinbike98]

Emotions/feelings like joy give quality to our lives..
(Offcourse when you have physical pain its hard or impossible to experience joy....)
Those emotions and how you feel are being influenced by the thoughts you have...
The thoughts you believe to be true has impact on your emotions.
You can have many thoughts. Some you discard, but the thoughts you believe to be true has impact on how you feel and your emotions..

Anything can happen in life, but the thoughts you believe to be true about it has impact on how you feel.

Thats why something can happen in life and 1 person may become sad...the other may become angry....but another person can become happy with the same thing that happened.

How do you perceive what happened?
They way you perceive things determine how you think and feel about it.

Thats why some people could live an identical life yet one may be sad or depressed and the other may be cheerful and joyful in the same situation.

Therefore its not exactly what happens in our lives that make us feel a certain way, but its the way we perceive what happens..

Perception makes why some people experience a heaven on earth: innerpeace, joy love, while other people experience a hell on earth: feeling miserable, sad , depressed, frustrated, angry all the time...
Perception creates thoughts and those thoughts have impact on your emotions...

My perception is that it is allowed by God. Everything! His will! Hard to accept sometimes...and be happy.