Thoughts are mental cognitions—our *ideas, opinions, and beliefs* about ourselves and the world around us. They include the *perspectives* we bring to any situation or experience that color our point of view (for better, worse, or neutral).
An example of a long-lived thought is an *attitude, *which develops as thoughts are repeated over and over and reinforced. While thoughts are shaped by life experiences, genetics, and education, they are generally under conscious control. In other words, if you are aware of your thoughts and attitudes, you can choose to change them. It may be useful to think of emotions as the *flow and experience of feelings,* for example, joy, sadness, anger, or fear. Emotions can be triggered by something external (from seeing a friend suffer or watching a movie) or something internal (an upsetting memory). While emotions are universal, each person may experience them and respond to them in a different way. Some people may struggle with understanding what emotion they are experiencing. Emotions serve to connect us with others and help cultivate strong social bonds. This may be the evolutionary purpose of emotions—people who were able to form strong bonds and emotional ties become a part of a community and were more likely to find the support and protection necessary for survival. According to Christakis and Fowler, “People the world over have different ideas, beliefs, and opinions—different thoughts—but they have very similar, if not identical, feelings.” Researchers such as Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, authors of *Connected*, have also found that emotions are “contagious.” We have a tendency to mimic each other’s outward states (for example, by smiling when someone smiles at us), and our outward states can affect our internal ones (smiling can actually make you feel happy!). Emotions can also be influenced by other factors: 1. *Cultural traditions and beliefs* can affect the way a group or an individual expresses emotions. There are some cultures in which it is deemed "bad manners" to express emotions in a way that may be considered healthy and appropriate in other cultures. 2. *Genetics *(or, more specifically, brain and personality structure, including self-control) can affect the emotional expression of an individual or family. (While a person’s genetic makeup cannot be altered, the brain is another story, according to neuroscientist Richard Davidson. He has identified six distinct “emotional styles” that are based upon the structure of our brains but can be re-shaped with practice.) 3. *Physical conditions: *Brain tumors, strokes, Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's, and metabolic diseases, such as diabetes <https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/conditions/diabetes> and thyroid disorders, can cause a person’s emotional responses to change dramatically. Thoughts and emotions have a profound effect on one another. Thoughts can trigger emotions (worrying about an upcoming job interview may cause fear) and also serve as an appraisal of that emotion (“this isn’t a realistic fear”). In addition, how we attend to and appraise our lives has an effect on how we feel. For example, a person with a fear of dogs is likely hyperattentive of the dog across the street and appraises the approach of the dog as threatening, which leads to emotional distress. Another person who appraises the dog’s approach as friendly will have a very different emotional response to the same situation. We tend to believe that emotions are just “part of us” and can’t be changed. Research, however, has established that emotions are malleable. They can be changed by: · Altering an external situation (divorcing an abusive spouse) · Shifting our attention (choosing to focus on a more positive aspect of a situation) · Re-appraising a situation (the upcoming test is an opportunity for learning, not an assessment of my personal worth). How we choose to live our lives has tremendous power over the way we feel every day. Sonja Lyubomirsky and other positivity researchers have found that 50% of happiness is determined by your "set point," or genetics, and 10% is determined by your circumstances (finances, health, living situation). The other 40% is based upon your own intentional efforts to become happier, meaning you have a big say in how you feel. Certain types of mental training, such as mindfulness <https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/activities/what-mindfulness> <http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/meditation>or positive thinking, can affect our perceptions of the world and make us feel calmer, more resilient, and happier. Other researchers have identified many other helpful attitudes—such as forgiveness, gratitude, and kindness—that can be cultivated with practice. If you are aware of your thoughts and emotions, you can choose to change them! WEST THOUGHTS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX HOW DO WE APPROACH? ALWAYS OUTSIDERS THINK ONLY AS OUTSIDERS; BUT GOPALAKRISHNAN LIKE WISHES TO THINK NOT AS INDIAN BUT AS GOPSSIP MONGERS OF THE WORLD ALL AROUND WITHOUT USING THEIR TINY BRAIN. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX धृतिः क्षमा दमोऽस्तेयं शौचमिन्द्रियनिग्रहः । धीर्विद्या सत्यमक्रोधो दशकं धर्मलक्षणम् ॥ ९२ ॥ *dhṛtiḥ kṣamā damo'steyaṃ śaucamindriyanigrahaḥ* | *dhīrvidyā satyamakrodho daśakaṃ dharmalakṣaṇam* || 92 || (1) Steadiness (2) Forgiveness, (3) Self-control, (4) Abstention from unrighteous appropriation, (5) Purity, (6) Control of the Sense-organs, (7) Discrimination, (8) Knowledge, (9) Truthfulness, and (10) Absence of anger, —these are the ten-fold forms of duty. —(92) *manubhāṣya: *Steadiness and the rest are qualities of the Soul. (1) ‘*Steadiness*’—the feeling of contentment even at the loss of property and such things; expressed by such feelings as ‘if it has been lost, what does it matter? It can be acquired again.’ Similarly at separation from a beloved person, the man regains former equanimity by thinking that ‘such is the way of the world.’ (2) ‘*Forgiveness*’— the excusing of wrongs committed; not seeking to do injury to a person in return for an injury that might have been done by him. (3) ‘*Self-control*’—absence of haughtiness, renouncing of pride due to superior learning &c. (4) ‘*Absention from unrighteous appropriation*’:—this is well known. (5) ‘*Purity*’—cleanliness of food etc. (6) ‘*Control of the Sense-organs*’—not allowing them to be drawn even towards unforbidden things. (7) ‘*Discrimination*’—true knowledge, following upon the refutation of all doubtful and contrary views. (8) ‘*Knowledge*’ of the Soul. The difference between ‘discrimination’ and ‘knowledge’ is that the former refers to *Acts*, and the latter to the *Soul*. In view of this tautology, some people read ‘*Dhīvidyā*’ (wise discrimination). But this is not right; specially as we have explained the difference between the two. The rest are well known. ‘*Absence of anger*’ is not permitting anger to arise when there is an occasion for it, and ‘*forgiveness*’ is not doing harm to others even when they may have done harm to one. — (92). XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX The Cognitive Process and some characteristics of Citta Chapter VII - The Kapila and the Pātañjala Sāṃkhya (yoga) <https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/a-history-of-indian-philosophy-volume-1/d/doc6984.html> It has been said that buddhi <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/buddhi#hinduism> and the internal objects have evolved in order to giving scope to the experience of the puruṣa <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/purusha#hinduism>. What is the process of this experience? Sāṃkhya <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/samkhya#hinduism> (as explained by Vācaspati <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vacaspati#hinduism>) holds that through the senses the buddhi comes into touch with external objects. At the first moment of this touch there is an indeterminate consciousness in which the particulars of the thing cannot be noticed. This is called *nirvikalpa pratyakṣa <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/pratyaksha#hinduism>* (indeterminate perception). At the next moment by the function of the *satnkcilpa* (synthesis) and *vikalpa <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vikalpa#hinduism>* (abstraction or imagination) of manas <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/manas#hinduism> (mind-organ) the thing is perceived in all its determinate character; the manas differentiates, integrates, and associates the sense-data <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/data#hinduism> received through the senses, and thus generates the determinate perception, which when intelligized by the puruṣa and associated with it becomes interpreted as the experience of the person. The action of the senses, ahaṃkāra <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/ahamkara#hinduism>, and buddhi, may take place sometimes successively and at other times as in cases of sudden fear simultaneously. Buddhi, including ahaṃkāra and the senses, often called *citta <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/citta#hinduism>* in Yoga <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/yoga#hinduism>, is always incessantly suffering changes like the flame of a lamp; it is made up of a large preponderance of the pure sattva <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/sattva#hinduism> substances, and is constantly moulding itself from one content to another. The buddhi is spread all over the body, as it were, for it is by its functions that the life of the body is kept up; for the Sāṃkhya does not admit any separate prāṇa vāyu <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/pranavayu#hinduism> (vital breath) to keep the body living. What are called *vāyus <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vayu#hinduism>* (bio-motor force) in Vedānta <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vedanta#hinduism> are but the different modes of operation of this category of buddhi, which acts all through the body and by its diverse movements performs the life-functions and sense-functions of the body. (Thinking our way ) Apart from the perceptions and the life-functions, buddhi, or rather citta as Yoga describes it, contains within it the root impressions (*saṃskāras <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/samskara#hinduism>*) and the tastes and instincts or tendencies of all past lives *(vāsanā <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vasana#hinduism>).* These saṃskāras are revived under suitable associations. Every man had had infinite numbers of births in their past lives as man and as some animal. In all these lives the same citta was always following him. The citta has thus collected within itself the instincts and tendencies of all those different animal lives. It is knotted with these vāsanās <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/vasana#hinduism> like a net. If a man passes into a dog life by rebirth, the vāsanās of a dog life, which the man must have had in some of his previous infinite number of births, are revived, and the man’s tendencies become like those of a dog. He forgets the experiences of his previous life and becomes attached to enjoyment in the manner of a dog. Apart from these the citta possesses volitional activity (*cestā*) by which the conative senses are brought into relation to their objects. There is also the reserved potent power (*śakti <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/shakti#hinduism>*) of citta, by which it can restrain itself and change its courses or continue to persist in any one direction. These characteristics are involved in the very essence of citta, and form the groundwork of the Yoga method of practice, which consists in steadying a particular state of mind to the exclusion of others. Merit or demerit *(punya <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/pu%E1%B9%87ya#hinduism>, pāpa <https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/papa#hinduism>)* also is imbedded in the citta as its tendencies, regulating the mode of its movements, and giving pleasures and pains in accordance with it. KR IRS 151022 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZopJC-dYxOyEoRK1_QAf-PNpZ-VpzVXyjGtiZzHxwY69ig%40mail.gmail.com.
