What are emotions
From my study of psychology and theology and my personal experiences of trying to learn how to survive and enjoy my personal daily experiences in this world of thousands of options for my personal choices, I have recognized that the emotions that I feel in my mind are the God-given chemical or electronic tags that God has designed into my brain to help me to evaluate the quality of the choices that I make each day as to whether they are coming from sources that are either “good” or “evil” and whether the experiences that they bring to me will be either beneficial or harmful. These sources that I choose to trust are either God, my creator, or Satan, my enemy, or my Self, who has been created by God in His image to make free personal choices and to reproduce myself in generations of children and personal relationships in accord with whom I choose to love with my heart and mind.
God warned my initial parents, Adam and Eve, about the possible dangers of this choice for whom I would trust in His commandment not to eat the fruit of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” that was in the “garden” where He had placed them or they would “die” (see Genesis 2:7-24). But, when they chose to disobey God and to seek this knowledge for themselves in response to Satan’s appealing lies, their physical bodies became subject to death and they became separated from God in their personal direct relationship with Him in this world that had now become corrupted by their “sin” with its selfish and Satanic influences were now to be inherited by all of their children, including me (See Genesis 3:1-24). So now I have to struggle in my daily choices with my emotional feelings and the various tags of evaluation for the personal experiences that they produce in my life so that I can experience what is “good” that comes from God and avoid what is “evil” that comes from Satan and not get distracted by my own selfish passions and wilful choices.
How to manage different emotions
Some of my emotions mark experiences that brought me personal pleasure and comfort and peace and joy that made me feel “good”. Other emotions mark personal experiences that were “evil” and made me feel abused or harmed my personal relationships or made me very uncomfortable and frightened about my daily and eternal safety in relationship with God, my creator, and my family and friends. Some emotions that were produced by my selfish choices were mixed in their qualities and were “bad” making me feel sad or bitter or angry or sorry or anxious about the experiences that they influenced me to make although they were initially made for the “good” benefits that I thought that they would produce. That is the nature of selfish choices; they are always mixed with “good” and “bad” experiences.
My mind is full of both “good” and “bad” habits of behavior that have produced both “good” and “bad” daily experiences from the thoughts and subsequent choices that I have made in the moments of my life. The quality of the experiences that my choices bring to me in these moments of my life will depend upon whom I choose to love and to trust, God or Satan or Self, in my daily choices. These choices will depend upon the quality of humble repentance that I offer to God, my creator and Lord, for my rebellious and selfish sinful choices against His loving and wise will for my life and my willingness to surrender all of my heart and mind to Him and to trust Him and His loving powers to protect and deliver me from the “evil” lies of Satan and his tempting appeals to my worldly comforts and security and selfish pleasures.
Although I have surrendered my heart to God and am trusting His Spirit for His personal guidance in my mind, the battle between Satan and my selfish desires and my Spirit-directed choices continues moment by moment every day because God has not completely finished His redemptive and transforming work in renewing my mind in accord with His perfect love and will for me. So I have to constantly decide in my thoughts moment by moment every day whom I’m going to choose to love and to trust for guidance in the personal choices that I make, God or Satan or Self, and I’m thanking God in these moments for His grace and wisdom that He gives to me through the presence of His Spirit in my heart and mind who helps me to make choices that are personally and eternally “good” for me. Here is a statement from my website that describes this process: https://www.christianityetc.org/meditate-to-feel-good.php.
Let’s talk about this
What are the primary emotions that you constantly feel every day? What are you choosing to do about them and their influence in your daily life? Whom do you recognize as the sources of these emotions in your life? How do you expect to experience inward personal peace in your daily struggles between these “good” and “bad” emotions and habits in your life?