The Feeling Place: How Feelings Move Us

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou

Our memory of how we felt about a person, place or thing will always outlast what we actually did, heard or said. Did the movie move you to tears? Did the food send your taste buds soaring?

Did you fall in love at first sight? What we specifically may have done, heard and/or said is actually subject to change. So it follows that even our interpretation, or perspective, of what we experienced is subject to change. Go figure. Changes as quickly as you change your mind or replace a belief with a new belief.

To see what I mean, try this: write a memoir of an event 2 minutes after it occurred, then again after 2 years, then again after 20 years, and see the differences your recollection produces.

Feelings and Life

Our life situation, karma, creativity and upbringing, all assist in conjuring up different ideas and explanations for what we’ve lived through. Thus breeding our attitudes and opinions. Some people go to therapy to make sense of life, others seek religion. Some eat to cope, others resort to hurting themselves–physically and emotionally. To each his own evolution of mind, thought, and, therefore, perspective.

What matters isn’t what one would label ‘facts’ because facts are facts until someone decides they’re not. (Ah, science.) What matters is what you interpret to be the case; reality is as you see it. All we ever have is our awareness of a reality, what we tell ourselves…our belief system.

Our interpretations are directly linked to those stories we tell ourselves. Directly linked to how we perceive an event or experience. Directly linked to what we believe we did, heard or said.

And directly linked to the feelings that are aroused as a result.