“They appear to be in the nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements. Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them.” (Page 27, Big Book)
I thought that emotion was freestanding or self-originating.
It’s not. It comes from thought and action.
This is why talking about emotions per se is a waste of time.
The emotions are the access point to the causative factors: the thoughts and the behaviours. Let’s talk about thoughts and behaviours.
This means no one has ever made me feel anything. No one has ever hurt my feelings. No one has ever offended me.
You know what bugs me? I bug me!
Whenever I think about something, I start to feel things about it, I start to become attached.
When I think about the subject matter of what I am doing, that I start caring about it, that produces diligence, and diligence produces good results. That’s good.
When I think about other people and the world, that produces attachment.
That attachment needs to be snipped, and I need to rinse off the residue.
This is like taking a shower after mucking out the stables.
How? Turn to God and be with God.