Recently, in work with clients from all walks of life, it has come to me that there is a basic phenomenon, at least symbolically, that there is a battleground on the human psyche between forces of light and dark, good and evil, positive and negative.  If a person can form an intent, and do the work, then the forces of lightness can overtake the dark.

I tell many of my clients that there are “feel good emotions” and “feel bad emotions”.   It is easy to know where one is on this continuum.   When one is dwelling primarily in “feel good emotions”, one feels good, and in turn, this kind of energy brings self and others in one’s presence, up, into a sense of lightness and purpose.  “Feel good emotions” include a sense of hope, courage, joyfulness, peace, love, unconditional love  and, at the highest level, bliss.

When one is dwelling in “feel bad emotions”, one feels bad, and others in the surrounding space pick up on this negativity.  It is easy to know what “feel bad” emotions are:  hate, fear, anger, sadness, depression, hopelessness, shame, doubt, guilt, blame;  any of these directed at the self or others.  Obviously, a trick in good mental health is to dwell primarily in the “feel good emotions”, and knowing some ways to get there, and stay there, most of the time.  I tell people, essentially, to make their thoughts good thoughts, positive thoughts, uplifting ones, because that then becomes their experience.

This is the basic underpinning of most philosophies and techniques underlying treatment of most mental health and relationship  issues.  

Almost all of the calls I get for help are of course from people who are feeling some kind of stress or negativity, and in turn are seeking ways to get themselves into a more positive place, with themselves, others, and the world around them.  If we are successful, a client will be able to tell me that he or she is now in that place of the “feel good emotions” most of the time.