Knowing Affects Feelings

It is quite difficult to control one's feelings. There are several attempts to manipulate subjective emotions through scientific breakthroughs in pharmacology, but the challenge seems complex such that these medications are known to have a certain degree of effect but not efficient entirely and concretely. There are also inspirational authors and new age researchers that clarifies the importance of what we know on to how we feel, which is equally important on determining our actions and some say our life's direction.

The connection between man's knowledge, feelings, actions and its future is widely discussed on topics concerning optimism and success. In fact, I was inspired to write about this because of what I knew from the book, The Secret. That book provides a sufficiently detailed approach and guide on how an individual can live in abundance. This blogpost maybe perceived a repeatition of what others have discussed, but I will try to present the relationship of these concepts in three simple statements.

What you know affects what you feel.

Everything we perceive and learn are important aspects of our feelings. We react to situations based on how it would affect ourselves personally or the people that matters to us. However, the difficulty lies on how we could control our perception and learning. Since people are naturally curious beings and are in pursuit of knowledge, that complexity of selecting what to know is a challenge. The question is if it is even possible to select what to know. The answer is not but one could take precautionary and actual measures to limit one's focus on certain aspects. This is to say that one could prevent oneself to be preoccupied by negative thoughts and take active role in diverting one's thoughts to positive one's should negative events occur. This is easy than done for this requires effort and time, but definitely possible.

What you feel determines how you act.

Many times I have heard many accounts of impulsive buying or binge-eating during stressful periods of one's life. The actions seem to be illogical and unnecessary but it happens. The objectivity and rationality of mankind even prohibits one to do such actions, but still these impulsiveness occurs. This is because of the strong influence of our feelings. Everything seems to stem from our subjective emotions, considered by some as man's weakness and threat to rationality and judgment. However, if it is almost impossible to control one's thoughts, is it also difficult to control how we react through feelings on our thoughts? This is makes our experiences crucial, because the more we are confronted with similar thoughts, we react less surprised and unprepared the next time. Somehow, our reactions would be more calculated and diminished in terms of intensity. But for those inexperienced, the hope lies on observing and learning from others. In that way, it is possible to be acquainted with varying situations and challenges, which others have either successfully overcame or learned from. Thus, this highlights the importance of being and living with others as a means to react appropriately through our emotions and feelings.

Your actions reflect the direction your future.

This step is somehow self-explanatory. However, one thing I could add is that our actions are not just independent tasks but as a product of influences by the environment we are living in. This means that if person is immersed in unhealthy and non-stimulating environment, one would not act better. This is because the environment is the source of one's knowledge and feelings. It generally feeds the person on what things to be valued better and to focus into. In short, the future of an individual becomes dependent on what is present on the environment or what the environment presents. It is therefore crucial that a person selects which environment he or she would be part of. Should the present environment clouds one's focus or bring negative thoughts and feelings, so it would be smart to either to transfer to a better milieu or find measures to change the environment for the better.

I am well aware that there are criticisms on the subjective basis of the establishment of concept interrelationships. Some would even argue that one's future is solely influenced by decisions the individual took, which could exist entirely independent from one's emotions. They would rather simplify the explanation by saying, for one to make better decisions, one must attempt to acquire enough information so one could assess the risk, benefits and consequences of a particular decision. However, I see the explanation lacking, given that many people take actions without going through the careful process of decision-making, rather they only act based on what the situation calls like instinctive creatures. This somehow for me strengthen the importance of factoring in emotions as a deciding element of one's actions and future.

Lastly, this blogpost seeks not to provide the ultimate interpretation of how life must go for individuals. This only offers guidance on how we could set a better perspective on our lives and take actions based on it perhaps. It worked for some, so perhaps I think there is no harm in trying. Should it not work, it would be okay to revert back to what has been usual and part of the status quo. Therefore, we could only find guides but it is still up to us either how we could influence our actions for the better or whether our emotions and actions could be in the first place subject to manipulation or influence.