Negative Thoughts: Can Trapped Emotions Cause Negative Thoughts?

The term ‘negative thoughts’ has become very well known in today’s world and this is true for people who are into self development and people who are not. Thoughts are generally the primary focus in the area of change and personal transformation.

These are said to control how one behaves, what they achieve or don’t achieve and even create reality itself. So if someone deals with their thoughts, then their whole life could change. And this can range from removing them, to replacing them with so called ‘positive thoughts’ and just being with them.

The minds thoughts are primary and the emotions and feelings of the body are often secondary. According to this, if one removes their thoughts, then ones feelings and emotions will also be dealt with. That is the general outlook and so feelings and emotions can end up being overlooked.

Conventional Wisdom

And when something has been around for a long time or is believed by enough people, it can become known as the absolute truth. But just because something is seen as the truth, it doesn’t mean that it is actually true.

Thoughts are often labelled as being the main problems and as what need to change in order for one to live a better life or to experience inner peace for example. While this can sound right and appear to be the truth, there is a lot more to it.

The Reflection

Although one can be disconnected from their body and therefore their feelings and emotions, it doesn’t mean that the mind will be unaffected. The mind will have to respond in some way to what is going on in one’s body.

And the approach the mind takes will typically depend on what is going on in the body and how strong the emotional pain is. If one is experiencing strong emotions in their body, then the mind will have to utilize certain defence mechanisms to try to settle everything down.

Defence mechanisms are not negative or bad; they are simply used to stop the mind from being overwhelmed by the pain that is coming up from the body. So when there is emotional pain in the body, the mind can be kept busy.

Obsession

One of the ways it can deal with what is going on in the body is to become obsessive. Here, the mind will produce all kinds of thoughts and ideas to avoid the body’s feelings and emotions.

Interpretations

As the mind is the observer of life, it comes to understand life and the body through interpretation. The body on the other hand, is life and is experiencing everything firsthand. So when feelings and emotions appear in the body, the mind will interpret them in a certain way.

This is similar to what happens when one engages in intellectualization and this means that one is not feeling their feelings and emotions. The mind is trying to understand them and make sense of them. And this is done to avoid facing them; due to the pain that would be created if one did.

Feelings And Emotions

The feelings and emotions in the body that the mind is trying to understand through interpretation can include: rejection, abandonment, fear, grief, loss, betrayal, shame, guilt, powerlessness, hopelessness and many others.

These emotions could be the result of what has happened during ones adult years. And they can be a consequence of what happened when one was: a child, baby and even in the womb. And although times have changes, they have remained trapped in one’s body.

The Disconnection

If one is aware of their body and what is going on in there, they would be able to see that their thoughts are often nothing more than a reflection of how they feel. So though interpretation, the mind will create all kinds of thoughts as a result of a feeling that arises or a cluster of feelings.

Examples

When feelings come up in the body, there is going to be the potential for all kinds of thoughts that follow. And this is because the mind can interpret things in so many ways and to mean so many different things.

Abandonment And Rejection

The feelings of abandonment and rejection could appear in the body after the end of a relationship and the mind can then interpret that to mean: one is unworthy of love, that other people don’t like them, they will always be alone, other people are more attractive than they are, that they are a failure, that their body is not the right shape, there never be in another relationship again and numerous others.

Shame

One could feel shame within and this could lead to the following interpretations being made by the mind: that one stands out and doesn’t belong, that other people have something they don’t have, they are unworthy of experiencing good things, other people look down on them and don’t like them, that they don’t deserve to exist, that one is useless and many others.

Letting Go

And based on how one feels, these interpolations that the mind has made can seem completely accurate. However, if these feelings were not in the body, the mind would have nothing to interpret.

So as these feelings and emotions are released from the body, the mind will be able to settle down. This can be done through the assistance of a therapist or healer who allows one to get in touch with their feelings and release them.

It is often said that if one changes their thoughts they will change their life. Perhaps a more appropriate saying would be – if you let go off your trapped feeling and emotions, your life will change.