aylissa wrote:
Are you capable of telling yourself not to feel a certain way?
For instance, if you're feeling like another person doesn't like you, can you choose to let that thought and its associated feelings go, and ignore it?
Or is it impossible for you to not feel and think the way you do?
You can do this by using your "mental eye", in one of two ways:
(1) You can "zoom out", and look at how the situation fits into your life, the world, the universe and beyond. You will then probably find that the situation isn't as important as you initially felt it was. If it's still important (for instance because you're head over heels in love with a person you think doesn't like you, and your happiness is truly at stake), then you should make work of the situation (for instance by doing something nice for the person, and seeing how s/he responds).
(2) You can "zoom in", and imagine all possible outcomes of the situation (e.g. a person not liking you). What's the worst that could happen, realistically? Is that really something that would make you unhappy for a long time? Conversely, also imagine all possible outcomes of the opposite of the situation (e.g. the person likes you a lot, you might be wrong). Would those outcomes really make you substantially happier than you are now, or would there be complications you didn't think of before, and if so, what are those possible complications (all of them)?
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There is nothing that is uniquely and invariably human.