Dear Pearce:

(I just read some of your share from yesterday on another thread. What a powerful, powerful share. I had to take a break and I will read it again later).

You asked what are the reader’s views on the quote: “A feeling is a physical reaction to a thought, therefore you cannot have a feeling without first having a thought about what it is that created that feeling. ”

A feeling and a thought are both physical. Neither one is possible without a brain, which is a physical organ. Some physical events, as intangible as they may seem, take place and allow thoughts and feelings. Next: I disagree: a feeling is possible without having a thought first. For example when one touches a hot oven, the person (or animal) does not think: “this is hot. I am getting burned” before feeling fear. First there is fear, next there is the reaction, removing one’s hand from the hot stove. The fear is the motivating force to remove the hand. There is no time for thought.

Otherwise, our thoughts and feelings (I use “feelings” and “emotions” interchangeably) are often entwined in webs of neuropathways and are not separate. This is why it is so difficult to change core beliefs: the thoughts making up what we believe about ourselves are entwined with strong emotions that glue the belief in place, making it resistant to change. And so, a feeling does not follow a thought, they are entwined, interwoven.

As to another quote: “It is not thoughts or facts that are painful but the feelings that accompany them. Thoughts in and of themselves are painless, but not the feelings that underlie them. It is the accumulated pressure of feelings that causes thoughts. ” – first part, yes, feelings are painful, not thoughts. And there is a very close association between the two. As to there being “accumulated pressure of feelings that cause thoughts”- yes, in that when we feel distress, the thinking brain goes into action trying to resolve the distress, to find The Problem and then figure out The Solution, or solutions. When we are not aware of fundamental aspects of our distress, the thinking brain (logic, rational) will go on and on and on thinking, not coming up with a possible effective solution.

anita