Researching for my next book, I was intrigued to understand how our thoughts originate. Do thoughts make us emotional and is that why we sometimes have a low mood because our thoughts were of bad things. Those who have seen my presentations, been to my workshops, or have read my posts, will know that I am big on mantras.
One mantra I continually espouse - "Let's start thinking about what we are thinking about". Is this a valid thing to say and which then has more control of our current mood: our emotions, our thoughts, or the way in which we feel about a particular situation?
Emotions are regulated from inside of our limbic system and are part of our fast-acting automatic survival network. The limbic system contains the thalamus and hypothalamus (hormone regulation) basil ganglia (habits, rewards, movement & learning) and two major parts, the hippocampus (memory centre) and the amygdala (emotional response).
If we are in a certain situation, our automatic risk management system reviews and compares that current situation to either our ingrained or learned memory so that we can respond with the appropriate emotion. Emotions occur unconsciously and mostly happen before the thought or feeling.
A thought is something that we do in our mind, consciously, subconsciously, or unconsciously. We just don't know that we are thinking a thought until it becomes conscious. When the emotion occurs first, the thought appears in our conscious mind.
A thought is simply an electrical signal that passes between neurons. Each time these cells communicate, the brain builds a connection to make it easier for them to communicate again in the future. Thus, the continued thought builds a neural pathway. The more that we think about something, the stronger the neural pathway becomes and the harder it is to break away from that particular thought.
Our thoughts are just as important as are our emotions when it comes to how we feel. For example, neuroscience shows us that if we allow our thoughts to wander, as in the case of daydreaming, our thoughts will eventually become negative and our mind will bring us back to reality with a jolt. Our mood will become negative and we will feel low.
If we want to daydream, we should reframe the word 'thought' to 'imagining' and control our imagination in order to avoid the resulting negative thought. Therefore, thoughts are not only our ability to form ideas but they are often the link between our emotions and feelings.
Feelings result from our interpretation of events and sensations, including from our emotions. Hence, feelings are essentially the result of our emotions and thoughts; we feel emotions because they are linked to memories which we think of at the time of the emotion.
Therefore, all three - emotions, thoughts, and feelings - are interconnected with the majority of science saying emotions are of foremost importance in the scale of mood change. However, I propose that we can effectively influence our mood by either controlling our thoughts or by getting involved in an activity that stimulates positive feelings.
I want you to think right now of a positive event in your life such as an enjoyable holiday. As you do so, your limbic system sparks with a positive emotional response which makes you feel happy. Similarly, if we do an activity that we enjoy, we will experience a positive emotion and will feel great because our thoughts become more positive with that connecting emotion.
It makes sense then that changing our thoughts can have a positive effect on our emotions and on our corresponding feelings. But, there is a proviso. According to some studies, how we think about our emotions has a critical impact on our wellbeing. According to a study conducted in 2018 by the University of Toronto, participants who believed that emotions are controllable were better able to efficiently reappraise a situation and were much less depressed.
Importantly then, it’s the way that we view our emotions and thoughts that is the catalyst for changing how we view events. For example, if we see emotions as simply information for our brain to work with at any given time then we have a greater opportunity to control them.
In sum, emotions often occur first and are unconscious. The thought then results from that emotion which leads us to feeling either happy or sad according to the initial emotion. However, as those of you who took the time when reading this post to think of the enjoyable holiday or event will know, that happy thought engaged your positive emotions and correspondingly lifted your mood.
So, what are you thinking about right now? Make it a positive thought to make a positive change.
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