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Friday, July 04, 2003

<  Session 1382 (Private/Phone)  >

“Feelings and Emotions, and Identifying the Signal”

“It May Not Be Necessarily that Complicated”


Participants: Mary (Michael), Ben (Albert) and Liam (Benny).

Elias arrives at 10:16 AM. (Arrival time is 15 seconds.)

ELIAS: Good afternoon!

BEN: Good afternoon!

ELIAS: (Chuckles) And how shall we proceed this day?

BEN: You know, every time I read that question I always feel like there’s probably some really clever thing I’m supposed to come up with! (Elias laughs) And then I just fall back on making inquiries. Unless you can prompt me into thinking of something brilliant, I’ll just start with some inquiries.

ELIAS: Very well. (Chuckles)

BEN: One of the things I’ve been interested in lately is trying to figure out this whole idea of emotional communications. I know, especially for me, a lot of times I’m aware that I have a feeling or emotion or something else, but I can’t even tell you what it is. I was especially influenced by the session that came out recently, which was #935, where you talked about anxiety and broke it down. I was wondering if there was some way I could get like a multiple choice so I could start understanding – this is frustration, frustration is anger, that means... – to kind of get examples of feelings, examples of emotions, examples of feelings underlying emotions, and examples of communications. Would that be possible?

ELIAS: Yes. How do you wish to proceed with this direction in attempting to identify different feelings and therefore offering yourself a clearer examination of what the emotion is associated with the feelings? What feelings do you feel?

BEN: Well, that was my thing, sort of like can’t we just make a short list or something, like pick five common feelings and then I can kind of write them down and go from there? The example that was given was anxiety, but even if you just have like what is a feeling and how is a feeling different from an emotion, if I could just have some examples. Does that help?

ELIAS: There are some expressions that you may classify as feelings that are not necessarily associated with an emotional communication, which at times may offer some confusion for you or other individuals. At times you may be identifying that you are experiencing a feeling, which may be recognized as a type of sensing rather an emotional signal of a feeling, or at times you may also be experiencing a feeling which may manifest in a physical experience also.

Now; these may not necessarily be associated with an emotional communication. You may be experiencing feelings in association with energy, which may be received from other individuals or in relation to other individuals. Not necessarily that they may be projecting energy to you, but you may be generating an energy expression in association with other individuals and this may produce a particular feeling, which does offer you information.

But as to emotional communications, this is somewhat different. For emotional communications, as you are aware, also produce signals to move your attention to the communication, and the signal is the feeling associated with the emotion. Generally speaking, previously all of you merely identified the signal as the emotion itself.

For example, you may be feeling sad or anxiety or frustration or happy or distressed or angry. These are emotional signals; they are not the emotion itself. But in your definition of emotion up to this point, this is what you have identified previously as the emotion itself, that feeling. It may be a feeling of embarrassment. It may be a feeling of disappointment. There are many, many different emotional signals that you experience.

Now; in identifying the signal, I am understanding in your question that you are experiencing some challenge in merely identifying the signal itself and what it is as identified by an emotional signal, which at times may be somewhat challenging for it may be expressed rather subtly and not as overtly as an emotional signal such as anger. Generally speaking, that is a strongly expressed signal. Sadness is another very strongly expressed signal for the most part, although both of those signals at times may be expressed more subtly. Happiness or joyfulness is another strongly expressed emotional signal, excitement. Fear, many times, is a strongly expressed signal.

Now; in this, once you identify what the signal is, you may move your attention to evaluate and inquire within yourself what is generating that particular signal, what is actually occurring, what are you doing in that moment that is producing that signal to gain your attention. This is the significance of genuinely paying attention in the moment. For as you generate an emotional communication and the signal that accompanies it, it is associated with whatever you are generating in that moment.

Now; at times this may be somewhat confusing also, for in the moment you may be projecting your attention either pastly or futurely. Therefore, as you attempt to evaluate what you are actually doing or generating in the moment, you may confuse yourself, for you may identify that you have been thinking of some event that has occurred within the past or anticipating some action or event that may occur in the future. And as you turn your attention to the now, you become quite black and white and rigid in that: your attention moves to what are you actually doing in this moment, and you shall discount that you have been projecting in that moment and therefore evaluate to yourself that you are actually generating no action that should be producing this feeling. But if you are genuinely paying attention to what you are actually doing in the moment, you may begin to recognize what is influencing this action of producing an emotional signal attempting to offer you a communication.

As I have stated many times, your emotional communications are quite precise. They address to what you are actually doing in the moment and what is influencing what you are doing. Therefore, they identify beliefs that are being expressed in the moment, and therefore they may be quite valuable in offering you clear information, if you are allowing yourself to pay attention.

Now; if you are experiencing some expression of uncomfortableness and you allow yourself to stop and attempt to identify what the emotional signal is, if you do not appear to incorporate in the moment the ability to identify that signal, you may attempt to be moving in a process of elimination, which may be quite beneficial in helpfulness to yourself in more accurately recognizing what those signals are.

For example, if you are experiencing a feeling of uncomfortableness in a particular moment and you are attempting to identify what that signal is, you may begin by inquiring of yourself “does this feel sad?” Perhaps it shall not feel that, and in this you may continue to inquire of yourself, becoming more precise with what exactly the signal actually is.

Anxiety generally, within most individuals, feels agitated or restless. You are aware of what sadness feels like. You are aware of the feeling of anger. Frustration may be somewhat challenging at times, for if it is not a strongly expressed frustration, it may at times be confused with anxiety; for you may be experiencing a restlessness, and that may be associated with frustration.

Now; if you are noticing that you are feeling some expression, some signal, and you are not quite sure of what that signal is, allow yourself to move your attention to what you are actually doing in that moment. This may offer you clues as to what you are experiencing in the feeling and be helpful in identifying it more clearly.

If you are interacting with another individual and you begin to feel a churning sensation within yourself, particularly associated with your yellow energy center, you may pay attention to what you are actually engaging in that moment. What is the other individual communicating? What is the other individual saying to you that you are responding to in reaction?

Once you recognize this, it may be helpful in identifying what the actual feeling is that you are experiencing. Once recognizing the feeling, turn your attention to you and inquire and evaluate within yourself what YOU are doing, what YOU are expressing, and what belief is being roused within you that is generating this signal.

BEN: To me, this is where I want to be now. Step one is a feeling and now step two is determining the communication.

ELIAS: Possibly. (Ben laughs) It is dependent upon the individual, Albert. For I may offer a method such as what you are describing, but that may not necessarily be efficient for all individuals.

BEN: I’m only concerned with myself.

ELIAS: This is what I am expressing. For at times, that may be an efficient method for you, but at times it may not necessarily. For at times you may be expressing a feeling, and within you, yourself, individually, it may be more difficult for you to identify the actual feeling than it would be to stop and pay attention to what you are actually doing in the moment – which in association with your steps that you have offered, that would be skipping the second step and moving to another step.

BEN: I guess my goal in this conversation was sort of... I understand that it’s not like every feeling automatically means “X.” But when I’m not talking to you and I’m walking along and I’m having a feeling and I’m identifying it, I’m just trying to have the questions. To me it’s much easier to think about it in terms of like a multiple choice, where it could be this or this or this...

ELIAS: Correct.

BEN: ...like we did with the feelings.

ELIAS: Correct.

BEN: That’s the goal that I’m trying to get to with our conversation now.

ELIAS: Correct, and this is what I am expressing to you, which is more befitting of you and in association with your personality, that it may be more efficient for you individually to be examining several options rather than offering to you a method of “engage this step first and this step next and this step next,” for that is not as efficient for you individually.

Now; offer an example of what you have expressed. You are walking along your street and you experience a feeling – of what? Any example.

BEN: Earlier today I was coming away from an appointment that I had and I felt excitement.

ELIAS: Very well.

Now; as you notice the excitement, now you offer yourself your multiple choice. Your identification of the excitement may be associated with an acknowledgment of yourself and confidence, or it may be associated with somewhat of an anxiousness in anticipation, or it may be an expression that you are generating to attempt to validate yourself and thwart a fear. Are you understanding?

BEN: Oh, yes.

ELIAS: Now; as you move through your evaluation, you may present to yourself all of these different possibilities of what this signal is expressing, but pay attention as you examine each one. In that paying attention, one or perhaps even two may appear to you stronger. Your response to your own inquiry may be stronger in association with certain identifications than others.

You may ask yourself “am I excited for I am genuinely feeling an expression of confidence within myself,” and pay attention to how you resonate with that question. Subsequently, inquire of yourself “am I generating this feeling of excitement for I am experiencing somewhat of a nervousness and not quite experiencing that confidence, but wishing to cover that lack of confidence with an expression of excitement in order that I do not sabotage myself and generate an energy that may be expressed in what I do not want.” Let me express to you, Albert, you all incorporate cunning manners of deceiving yourselves. You also automatically generate an association that if you are projecting a particular type of energy that you view to be bad or negative or not confident or not positive that you shall sabotage yourself, which is not necessarily correct.

You may be experiencing an uncertainty within yourself as to whether you shall actually be creating what you want or not. This is an objective expression associated with thought. Remember, thought does not create your reality. Therefore, your desire may be great in association with what you want, and regardless of whether you may be actually objectively thinking that you are expressing a confidence in the energy that you are outputting or not, you may create what you want regardless. It is dependent upon what you concentrate upon.

This is the significance of generating a clarity in relation to what you actually do want, which is evidenced in what you do. Not that what you do expresses to you clearly what you want, for many times you generate actions that are not in harmony with what you want but they are in association with your beliefs and those beliefs that are expressed.

BEN: I see where my work lies. But one of the things I want to ask you is could I use this same way that we’re talking about now to deal with other communications such as physical affectingness?

ELIAS: Yes.

BEN: I have this heel spur, so I have a situation where sometimes it hurts and sometimes it doesn’t. For the most part, I’m just walking along and then it hurts. I’ve tried to turn my attention not so much to, as you were saying, what was I just thinking right then, but just what am I doing right now, what am I seeing right now, what am I sensing right now. I get stopped, because it just seems like you’re just walking along. If you don’t take what you were thinking into consideration, I look around and I have no idea why my foot hurts in this moment and not in the moment previous.

ELIAS: But this is what I am expressing to you, Albert, that it is significant to pay attention to what you are thinking, for what you are thinking is an indication of where you are projecting your energy. Therefore, it IS significant to pay attention to what you are thinking.

I am understanding your confusion (Ben laughs), for you are incorporating this information and your association with it is that I have expressed that thinking is not a communication, that thinking is not always accurate and that it is a tool, a mechanism for translating, that your attention is not thought and therefore it may move to other expressions such as communications.

Now; in this, what you have done is assumed that information and moved it into black and white terms, in which you are attempting to not pay attention to the thinking aspect of yourself and therefore pay attention to other aspects of yourself. This is a misunderstanding.

I have expressed it is important and significant to be paying attention to all three of these aspects of yourself: the aspect of yourself that is thinking, the aspect of yourself that is choosing or doing, and the aspect of yourself that is communicating. In this, generally speaking, if you are expressing a communication of any type that is uncomfortable, one of the three of these aspects shall not be in harmony with the other two – but how shall you know if you are not paying attention to all three? Therefore, it is not a matter of not paying attention to what you are thinking.

As I am engaging conversation with individuals concerning the mechanism of thought, what I am expressing to you is that thought alone is not what may offer you clarity and accuracy in association with your beliefs, your choices, your direction, your movement or what you want, for alone it is not entirely accurate. For the most part, generally speaking, most individuals express a reliance upon thought to the exclusion of communications or choice. But I am not expressing to any of you that you do not pay attention to thought at all or that it is not a significant mechanism within your physical expression. It is an objective translating mechanism which is important.

BEN: I certainly understand the clarification there, but there’s one more thing as far as that’s concerned. Like I said, it’s almost easier for me to think about foot pain than it is for me to think about emotions. In that moment when I have the foot pain and I am looking at what I’m choosing, I’m looking at what I’m doing, I’m thinking about the fact that I’m giving myself a communication and I’m addressing it to what I’m thinking, I seem to come up dry. I know that in this moment I’m creating this. Even in the difference of the two moments from when it wasn’t hurting to when it is hurting, even though I have my attention in a sense and I’m asking all these questions, I have this belief or whatever that if I walk in a particular way that it’s going to stop; but that’s not necessarily the direction of what I’m trying to get from that snap.

ELIAS: I am understanding.

Now; let me also express to you, at times you may be offering yourself a simple expression and a simple identification of a belief which is being expressed in that moment, and you may be attempting to complicate the communication in attempting to uncover some elaborate expression that you are generating within yourself. It may not be necessarily that complicated.

At times you may be generating a painfulness within your foot, and turning your attention to your thoughts, you may be accurately translating what the communication is and that it may be as simple as identifying your belief which is expressed in association with how you walk or what foot apparel you incorporate. In your terms, there is always a reason, but the reason is not always some deep philosophical reason. (Laughs)

Let me express to you, this is significant also. For regardless of whether you identify a belief as being simple or complicated or big or small, in actuality they are all the same, and they incorporate the ability to influence you and your manifestations quite strongly. A belief that you may identify as associated with what type of foot apparel is good to be incorporating for walking may be expressed and is strong enough to be influencing you to be generating physical manifestations of many different types.

This is the significance of paying attention to your expressed beliefs and recognizing that they exist and that they are influencing, and therefore allowing yourself choice – not eliminating them. But this expression of elimination is quite familiar. It is expressed quite frequently. As you experience any action that you deem to be uncomfortable or even potentially uncomfortable, your automatic response is to attempt to eliminate whatever is being expressed that would be generating an uncomfortableness or the potential for that.

BEN: For me, going along the same line, I’m walking along and I become aware that, yes, I do have a belief associated with footwear, that there is a particular kind of footwear that I can wear that I’ll no longer have any foot pain. So to me, this is in a sense beneficial. Because I believe that my heel pain is somehow associated with my footwear, I believe there is a magic pair of shoes that I can buy or wear and it will really happen. So in that sense, becoming aware that that belief exists means that – not that I want to eliminate it – it’s just the fact that because I have this belief in footwear being associated with my foot pain, there is the opportunity to change it.

ELIAS: Correct! And this is what you are addressing to now in association with this wave addressing to the belief system of truth, identifying within yourself what are your truths, knowing that they are not absolutes but they are your truths, which are your most strongly expressed beliefs, and in this, knowing that it is unnecessary to be forcing energy in opposition to those truths and that you may offer yourself the freedom to move with them, or you may choose different truths. But the point is that you begin to recognize that you actually do incorporate choice and that your beliefs are not your enemy and that they are not bad.

You create all of your reality. You create all of the shoes within your reality. You create your feet. You create your streets that you walk upon. You create the cobblers that create the shoes. Therefore, whatever direction you move within matters not, for you are creating all of it, regardless. It is all associated with your beliefs. There is no expression that you may generate within your physical reality that is NOT associated with beliefs. Even those that you view as absolutes, facts, and that you do not necessarily create yourself, they are also influenced by your beliefs.

BEN: Well, thank you.

ELIAS: You are welcome.

(Omitted by request)

ELIAS: Very well, my friends! I shall be anticipating our next meeting. I shall be encouraging you to be incorporating FUN, which I am quite assured that you shall incorporate little conflict with that! (Laughs)

LIAM: Thank you for talking.

ELIAS: You are quite welcome, my friend. To you both, as always, in tremendous affection and great encouragement also, au revoir.

LIAM: Bye-bye.

Elias departs at 11:26 AM.


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