In life we are often told to trust our feelings and they won’t lead us astray. Sometimes this is great advice, but other times not so much. And how do you trust your feelings anyway? If you’re feeling nervous about public speaking is that a sign to stay away or to get ready and go for it? And why is it that when we do trust our feelings we can end up regretting it? Understanding what causes our feelings and how we experience them enables us to more easily separate fact from feeling.
The Sensory Body Feedback Loop
The feelings we experience in our body are the end product of sensory inputs. We experience the world through our seven senses – sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, movement and mind. When our sense organs are activated an electrical signal is sent to the brain for processing. The brain processes these various inputs and creates a 3D scene within our head so we can experience the world. We are quite literally experiencing the world inside our head – not outside our body as it seems to be.
When the brain has created the scene for us to experience, it automatically assesses it as either desirable or undesirable. The criteria for this assessment are held within our memories, beliefs, opinions and experiences we’ve had. The brain draws on these to arrive at its conclusions.
Once an assessment has been reached – even if only partially – the brain sends a signal to the body to tell it what is happening. It is only at this time that the body has any idea of what is happening in the environment that it is in. The body has no way of processing sensory information.
It’s a Feeling Not a Fact
If the brain assesses a situation as dangerous it will send a signal to the body advising of such. We may label this signal as fear or something similar. If the brain likes the result of the assessment it will send a signal to the body that we might label as enjoyment or the like. It’s important to note that up until this stage the whole process is automatic. It can’t be stopped. You cannot stop your sense organs encountering the world, nor the brain from interpreting the signals it receives. You cannot stop it drawing on particular memories when it’s conducting its assessment. And we can’t stop it from sending a signal to the body – after all that is what the system has evolved to do.
It’s all in Our Reaction
The way that we react to these energetic sensations determines if the feedback loop is reactivated or allowed to extinguish itself. If we automatically react to undesirable sensations the body will send a signal to the brain to generate thoughts on how to avoid the sensations. The brain will then create thoughts on what to do. As the mind is a sensory organ it will detect these thoughts and the whole feedback loop starts again. We then get caught up in our thoughts and how they are making us feel and the loop spirals out of control.
Just because the feelings are strong does not mean they are factual. It is the same for desirable sensations. When we automatically react to sensations we are continually reactivating the sensory body feedback loop. This keeps us locked in the feeling we are experiencing. This doesn’t make it more true, it just makes it all encompassing.
Separating Fact from Feeling
The feelings we experience are grounded in the programming inside us. Trying to override the them will only set up a losing battle. The solution to getting past these constant feelings so you can identify the facts is to simply experience the feelings. Pay 100% attention to them without judgement. Don’t make up a story or look for an answer in them. All they are doing is expressing the programming inside you.
When you pay attention to the sensations they will dissipate and their hold over you will weaken. Then you will be able to look at the situation in front of you and not react automatically, but rather act from a position of awareness based on the facts you are encountering, not the programming they are activating.
Written by Darren Fleming.
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