Skeptical? Wondering why I'd claim that? Let me explain.
I’m not here to discount anyone’s experience. Rather, I want to highlight how often we suffer unnecessarily—often without even noticing it.
Suffering is, without a doubt, part of the human experience. It feels almost automatic. But does it have to be?
Welcome to The Mindset, where I’ll show you that most suffering is optional. You hold the power to decide how you feel at any given moment.
This is The Mindset: The Ultimate Mental Growth Model
What Are Feelings, Really?
Before we delve into suffering, let’s take a moment to understand feelings—since pain and suffering are, at their core, feelings.
Feelings arise spontaneously. They’re triggered by biochemical reactions within our brains and bodies. This is where the initial feeling takes root. Then, we form thoughts around these feelings.
And those thoughts? They determine the direction our feelings will take.
When initial feelings meet our thoughts, two outcomes emerge:
If our thoughts are self-sabotaging and undermining, our feelings amplify in a negative direction.
If our thoughts are uplifting and growth-oriented, our feelings shift positively.
This is what I mean when I say our thoughts control how we feel.
The majority of our feelings—those experienced after our thoughts have taken over—shape our emotional state at any given moment.
When I say you’re in control of how you feel, I mean you’re in control of the thoughts that emerge between the spontaneous and the stimulated stages of your feelings.
Managing our emotions, then, is about managing our thoughts.
How to Master Your Thoughts
In a previous post, I explored ways to master your thoughts. Here’s a quick recap:
Self-observation is crucial for mental control.
Making the right choices often means resisting the easy path.
Ignoring negative thoughts without engagement weakens their hold.
(This approach is backed by science! If you’d like to know more, check out this post: “How I Became an Unofficial Neuroscientist (Kinda)”)
To learn more about managing your thought processes, check out this post:
Don’t Suffer Imagined Troubles
How often do we imagine the worst-case scenario? It’s tempting. We create a whole web of thoughts and list down everything that could go wrong, and push away our action, in search of a better decision.
Instead, consider this:
Anticipating pain that may never come is one of the key sources of suffering. Overthinking may seem unavoidable, but by controlling your thoughts, you can avoid the habit of worrying about what might happen.
Want to learn how to break free from overthinking? This post can help:
Are You Suffering Before You Need To?
Anticipating pain often leads to suffering before anything has actually happened. If we could observe our thoughts more closely, we’d see that most suffering comes not from the pain itself, but from how we react to the possibility of pain.
If you’re looking for deeper insights and faster healing, I recommend reading this post:
Spread The Mindset
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Thanks, everyone! 👋
-Jasir Ibrahim