choosing good feelings for no reason.

recently i gave a lecture on past-life regression, and at the lecture a fellow decided to become actively involved in the discussion.

his view was that we have feelings which we tend to react to in a variety of ways that we come to know as consciousness.

i was grateful for this fellow`s contribution as it drew me to making a distinction.

i have heard this position on several occasions, mostly from students of psychology and psychiatry.

the position of the a priori existance of feelings suggests that these things are entities on thier own that arrive fully formed into our consciousness, and that we are merely witness to them.

this creates a problem for those who`s feelings aren`t to thier liking.

my view, and the view shared by many in hypnosis and nlp, is that the feelings we experience are the result of a chain of events in thinking comprised of pictures, sounds, smells, and sensations that are created in the mind and that we have control of them in precise and repeatable ways.

an actual science.

for instance, we know what a lemon looks like.

we know what it feels like.

we know what it tastes like.

we can imagine in our minds cutting the lemon with a sharp knife and biting into the juicy flesh of the fruit.

and then we experience something interesting as a result.

we salivate.

i am doing this as i sit in front of the computer and i`m salivating.

i do this with clients and we salivate.

i do this in lectures and we all salivate.

and i don`t need a real lemon to do it.

ever.

so, if we control the images we show ourselves first we can control the feeings we get as a result.

this takes discipline.

showing ourselves positive images takes practice.

the sooner you do it and the more you practice, the more quickly and consistantly you will be able to feel good.

without having to have a reason.............