In response to your question of which comes first thinking or feeling? Have you ever tried to be completely still and get yourself in a frame of mind where you have stopped all thinking?
I'm not real knowledgable on meditation, but I believe it is about being still, relaxing, and focusing your thoughts.
Are feelings not created by our thoughts? It's the old chicken and egg.
We have the power to feel what we choose to feel by controlling our thoughts.
Try having happy thoughts, focus on a beautiful sandy beach along the ocean, visualize yourself laying on that beach, listening to the waves hit the shore. As your visualizing and thinking about this beautiful beach, try and feel great sadness.
If you are truly focussed on visualizing andthinking about the beach, you are unable to feel something completely different from what your thoughts are focused on.
Thoughts are energy, and feelings are a higher level of energy, created by our thought patterns. We can choose to be happy or sad. Just flip the thinking switch.
The best thing to understand is that it is all within our control. God has given us everything we need to be happy, by giving us a brain. It's a matter of whether we choose to use it to it's fullest capacity, to enhance our lives.
