How you feel isn't what you think.

What if you didn't feel the way you think you feel?
What if your happiness wasn't happiness?
What if your sadness wasn't sadness?
What if it's all invented?

Earlier this week, I hosted a Radical Honesty class with a friend and colleague and we talked about what is TRUTH and what is not truth.

According to the teachings of Radical Honesty, there are only 3 truths we can speak of:
1) Our bodily sensations
2) Our physical surroundings
3) Our personal thoughts

As we explored this topic together and practiced telling the truth about all three, one of the other participants asked about feelings and how feelings fit into the mix of truth or untruth.

I came up with this equation:

Our bodily sensations + Our thoughts about those bodily sensations = Our feelings

The example was a racing heart. Is that racing heart a sign of being scared? Is it a sign of being excited? Is it a sign of some tachycardia, a medical condition?

As the one with the racing heart, you could decide any of the three, or none of them. Which means, you have the opportunity to INVENT whatever emotional label you want to put on it.

Which reminded me of a book called the "The Art of Possibility" by Ben and Rosamund Zander, with a chapter titled "It's All Invented." In it's pages it talks about exactly what I am describing above, though they didn't specifically talk about feelings. Their focus was on our judgements and beliefs being invented, so why not invent beliefs that will inspire you.

Who decided that blue was blue? 
Or that happy was happy?

I don't know either, but someone decided it--someone invented it.

Do you ever find that when you say "I'm tired," you sink a little lower or curl in on yourself a little more? Or maybe you yawn? I know that I do. It seems that the more I say the word the more I feel the feeling.

What if we shifted ourselves away from these invented words that described our feelings and instead focused on our bodily sensations? 

What if the next time you feel happy, you report not that you are happy, but that you feel a fluttering in your belly and a looseness in your chest? 

What if the next time you feel afraid, you report that you feel a ball in your stomach and a strong pull backward?

Obviously, all of these words are invented too, but by using descriptions instead of feeling words, we might be able to empower ourselves to reach a place where it feels AMAZING. 

Want to try it out with me right now? What bodily sensations do you notice right now?
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In possibility,
Theresa