Have you ever seen an apparition in the dark, something that looks exactly like a weird animal or ominous intruder? As soon as you turn on a light you realize the shadowy visage was created by a tree branch just outside your window, or maybe a hanging lamp in the hallway.
Our feelings are also shadows. Fear, anxiety, depression, sorrow, joy, gratitude, exuberance, yearning are all the shadows of our thoughts.
Emotions don’t happen to us. They are created by our thoughts, by our in-the-moment predictions.
Learning that emotions are the shadows of thought has changed my experience of life.
I lived with often debilitating depression and anxiety for over thirty years. I thought depression and anxiety were real, that they were actual entities living in my brain and mind. I spent so much time thinking about and talking about and worrying about shadow monsters. Knowing they are just shadows created by thoughts has changed everything.
Now, when I feel a wave of anxiety, I acknowledge the shadow monster in whatever form it appears. Then I turn on the lights.
Occasionally I’m able to pinpoint exactly what thoughts conjured up the monsters, though it turns out identifying them doesn’t matter. It’s enough to remember the anxiety is caused by random thoughts floating through my mind.
All it takes to turn on the lights is remembering the anxiety is caused by thought. Thoughts aren’t real, they float by just as quickly as they came, and there will always be new ones. I can choose which ones to follow.
The shadow monsters aren’t so scary anymore because I know they’re not real. Now I can appreciate their dark, momentary beauty.