Don’t Think While You’re Feeling

Don’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry.

Don’t call ex-lovers when you’ve been drinking.

Don’t think when you’re feeling.

Let’s say you have a disappointing day.  Everything is going wrong.  Bills, parking, people, money, friends, the very streets seem to be out to get you.  You feel alone, sad, furious, frustrated, exhausted and forgotten.  You think, “That’s it.  I’ve had it.” And you decide to turn your back on your life and start over.

The thought of which depresses you even further.

Or maybe you’re ill, or in physical pain.  My friend Chris gets a cold and suddenly his whole life feels like a pathetic joke in which nothing good can ever happen.  When his body is weak, his thinking gets weak, and it’s hard to ignore the dark thoughts that are one of his “symptoms.”

Or maybe your illness is actually a hangover; post-alcoholic depression is no joke.  Even if you are not suffering from the physical effects of drinking too much, your brain may be.  And in it’s weakened condition, your brain is liable to throw out an awful lot of negative thoughts.  It’s perilously easy to believe negative thoughts when you’re hung over.

Or perhaps you are in the middle of a truly awful situation.  When you have lost something or someone you love, be it a person, an animal, a place, a job, a relationship, or even just your idea of the person you thought you were, you will grieve.  According to the Greeks and Sam Christensen  “Grief is the Daughter of Anger and Sadness”  and “Revenge is the Son of Anger and Sadness,” – an evocative conceptualization, huh?  When we are caught in the strong tides of circumstance and emotion, our cognition is affected.  And not, as you’ve probably noticed, for the better.

Has this happened to you?  When we’re in the extremes of an emotion, it’s all too easy to tie those emotions to thoughts, and those thoughts certainly feel real.  But they are not.  The thoughts you have when you are operating at a low vibration are a fraud.  They are the devil, sneaking in when you’ve left the doorway of despair open even a little bit.

People who make decisions when they’re upset are called Drama Queens.   They live in a turbulent, tumultuous world in which nothing can be relied upon, because they allow their ever-shifting feelings to make their decisions for them.

In the same way that alcoholics and addicts constantly “change the rules,” Drama Queens also create an environment in which no one ever knows how they will be received.  Will there be hugs and kisses and a face wreathed with smiles?  Or glowering?  Or mean-spirited remarks?  When people come to understand that they cannot rely on you, then will begin to avoid you.  Maybe not right away, but eventually they will decide that your erratic, unpredictable behavior is just more trouble than it’s worth.  You have become a person without integrity.

So, you know…Don’t be that way.

If you’re feeling low, you have a few choices:  you can just lay low, you can can wallow in it (see “How To Wallow”) or you can try to keep your chin up and soldier on.  But really, don’t make any big decisions or rash moves until you’re done feeling your feelings, OK?

NOTE:  If you’re feeling low for more than two weeks, go see your doctor and don’t leave that doctor’s office until you’ve gotten some help.

So, what lessons have you learned about “not thinking while you’re feeling”?