The way you think affects the way you feel, the way you feel affects the way you think

Blog | Podcast (5 mins)

David Walther, kinesiologist summed it up perfectly “the way you think affects the way you feel, the way you feel affects the way you think” – let’s unpack this together. Our thinking brain (neo cortex) is located next to our feeling brain (limbic brain) this physical proximity is what drives the thought-feeling connection.

To help you better understand this, let’s take this for a test drive.
When you think positively about someone – your impression and perception of them, do you notice naturally your feelings towards them is also positive. And the same would be true if you felt positively towards someone – the nature of your interaction with them creates a pleasant feeling within you, naturally your thoughts of them would also be positive.

On the flip side, when you think negatively about someone, your feelings towards them tend to be negative. And if you felt negatively towards someone because of an unpleasant interaction or experience with them, you would notice that your thoughts of them would turn negative too.

Buddha explains the human mind – there are four aspects of the mind.

• Cognition
• Recognition
• Sensation
• Reaction

Now, to see these four aspects of the mind in action. An image comes to your eyes – it enters the first aspect of your mind, cognition that cognizes that this is a sight, not a sound/ smell/taste. Recognition, the second aspect of your mind recognises that this is a flower that it is looking at. It recognises that this is a flower because a vast library of sights exists within you. Recognition is possible because of past impressions. When you recognise it, based on your past impression of how you experienced it either a pleasant or unpleasant experience this then creates a sensation within you when you encounter it again. If your past impression with this flower was a pleasant experience of relaxing in nature, your sensation would be positive however, if the sight of this flower was at a funeral of a loved one, the sensation would likely be one of sadness. It is not the flower itself, but it is how it is imprinted in you that makes you experience it differently. Reaction, the fourth aspect of the mind is the way in which you respond to what you are experiencing and most importantly, your ability to respond is what determines the nature of your experience of life.

Our body remembers, a balancing taps into your body’s natural intelligence to find neutral. When you are operating with neutrality, it changes the very way you are experiencing life’s situations.

 Drawing inspiration from David Walther, Sadhguru and Buddha.

“By mobilising our thoughts and practicing new ways of thinking, we can reshape our nerve cells and change the way our brains work.”
Dalai Lama XIV