Just cause you feel it doesn't mean its real.

The past few days have been tough. I’ve been spending a lot of time and emotional energy talking Paradox down off of an emotional cliff. His Big Deal relationship has collapsed like a house of tarot cards and it has got me thinking about the connection between emotions and actions.
Emotions. Feelings. Gut reactions. These experiences we have are so vague and ambiguous and yet we have enshrined them as though they are something transcendent. Love, fear, self-esteem...feelings arise in us all the time and we are constantly attempting to respond to them. But why? Why do we have to act on feelings of love or of anger? Why do we think we know the appropriate way to deal with feelings? Why would we know? Feelings do not come with instructions. There are no rules to feelings or paths to follow. Despite this, we act on our feelings regularly as though they were specific commands from an authority which demanded compliance from us. We start wars, end friendships, ruin families all in an attempt to fulfill the imperative we seem to believe our feelings represent to us.
But when do we ask why? When do we pause to consider the validity of such behaviors? When do we assess the functionality of emotions? When did we get it into our heads that a) emotions demand a response and b) we know what that response should be. The truth is we have no idea. No idea at all as to why we feel the way we do and we have even less reason to believe that we know what those feelings demand from us. Despite this most people would consider it to be absurd to even question this kind of reasoning. Emotions are different. A rational approach to them is irrational. Right. But what if you didn’t have to do anything at all if you felt something?
What I propose is not to ignore your feelings, but to accept them. To observe them and allow them to move through you. Instead of responding to your feelings with actions, respond to your feelings with observation. Experience them as they manifest inside yourself.
My good friend Maeve pointed out that emotions are a vital element of decision-making, but that they work in tandem with rationality. Consider that there are effectively an infinite number of considerations we could analyze regarding the most trivial of decisions. While it is important to be able to rationally organize our thoughts and orient ourselves to our world, it is equally important to be able to end the evaluation process and come to a decision so that we can work through our lives smoothly. Maeve posited that it is our emotions which allow us to break off analysis and move on to next steps. If effect we have to be able to feel out when the right time to stop thinking about things and make a decision.
Even for me now I realize it is time for me to go to bed. I really would like to go more in depth with this little thought of mine on the utility of emotions, but I have to take into account that I have to get up early, and that if I don’t post this now I will probably not post it at all. So despite its lack of perfection I will make the decision to end and post.
Remember Tom York’s words, “just cause you feel it doesn’t mean its there” Although we may believe our emotions demand a response from us the truth is they don’t.