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“Thought is not reality; yet it is through thought that our realities are created.”
The meaning (or thinking) we give an event is what determines how we ultimately feel about it. That meaning or thinking is the filter through which we see life from then on — because of this, we live through a perception of reality, not in reality itself. Reality is that the event happened, with no meaning, thinking, or interpretation of it. Any meaning or thinking we give the event is on us and that is how our perception of reality is created. This is how our experience of life is created from the inside out.
Thinking, on the other hand, is the act of thinking about our thoughts. This takes a significant amount of energy, effort, and willpower (which is a finite resource). Thinking is actively engaging with the thoughts in your mind. You don’t have to engage with each thought in your mind, but when you do, that is thinking. Thinking is the root cause of all our psychological suffering.
These negative emotions are only helpful to us in terms of survival, but if we don't constantly encounter life or death situations, negative emotions are more unhelpful than helpful for most of us.
