Page 128 - Advance Copy: Todd Kaufman, Author

TODD KAUFMAN
Emotions are a combination of resident thoughts in your own brain and the chemicals and hormones that create and support them. And that is all in your head.
OK, you may have heard this before, and even believe it, but how do you put this information into practice in real life? How do you actually change your emotions and feelings? You might be thinking: This sounds good, but if my partner sticks me with taking out a jam packed trash can one more time.... This is just a thought, and if it followed up by, or precipitated by, a feeling or emotion, you do have the power to shift both or either.
How? We are back to the three keys to neuroplasticity once again: Intention, Repetition and Reward.
There is another piece of good news about our feelings and emotions: No individual feeling or emotion is ever permanent. Impermanence is a characteristic of all things, including emotions and feelings. It is helpful to always remind ourselves about impermanence. When things are feeling good, savour those moments. When things are going less than good, remember impermanence!
No emotion or feeling is ever permanent. Savour impermanence, it helps us enjoy the good, and carries through the less than good.
This exercise is a powerful one you should consider mas- tering, as it can turn you into the Master of Changing Your Emotions!
Many of our emotions are very similar, but if we take a moment to really pay attention to them they do feel a bit different. For example, think about the feeling of joy, then the feeling of happiness and finally the feeling of ecstasy. They all feel just a bit different. We have different words for them because they are more then just shades of the same feeling.
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