Quote: My message is this: You can feel in diametrically opposite ways about the very same thing, depending on how you look at it.
You know, there's a whole branch of psychology based on that premise, it's known as "Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy". One of the better books along these likes is: "Feeling Good : The New Mood Therapy" by David D. Burns (here on Amazon).
If my wife does something that annoys me, and I find out she was really trying to please me, my attitude changes completely. The way we think about things affects our interpretation, which changes our feelings. Of course, we have to be in touch with reality, but a lot of the time we feel bad because of "beliefs" that we don't really believe in - and that's a waste of time and emotional energy.
I used to write a lot of depressive poetry, and it always left me feeling depressed. Go figure.
