The Emotion Machine

Principles are core beliefs that we try to adhere to on an everyday basis.

Many people view their principles as strict rules that should never be broken, one who goes against their principals is viewed as a “hypocrite,” a person who doesn’t follow what they actually say they believe.

However, I find principles work best when we view them as guidelines. In this way, our principles become a general rule of thumb, but something that we may have to break every now and then.

Breaking your principles isn’t always a sign of hypocrisy, it could just mean that your principles don’t apply within a particular situation and context. You cannot expect to discover a set of principles and think they will apply to every future situation in your life.

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If you can’t explain to others why you believe the things you do, then it’s unlikely you can explain your beliefs to yourself – and that’s not a good sign.

It’s odd, but a lot of people seem to not know exactly what they believe until they are called upon to describe those beliefs and why they have them.

Instead, most of us take our beliefs for granted.

We feel strongly about our beliefs, even though we don’t think very critically about them, because deep-down we think we must have good reasons behind them, even if we aren’t fully aware of those reasons.

Upon reflection, however, we often find that our beliefs aren’t as sturdy and convincing as we initially thought. This is one of the main reasons we should frequently challenge our beliefs whenever possible.

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Self-awareness is an important part of happiness, but you have to be careful not to focus too much on yourself – to the point where you begin to confuse “self-awareness” for what is actually “self-indulgence.”

Self-awareness is a non-judgmental form of introspection that seeks to better understand yourself. But self-indulgence is a judgmental form of introspection that seeks to feed and protect your ego.

Both are forms of reflection, but they come from very different perspectives.

When your introspection comes from a place of “self-indulgence” it can turn into negative rumination – addictive and excessive thinking about ourselves that leads to depression, frustration, anger, and apathy.

If you want to be happier in your life, pay attention to the happiness of others.

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In psychology, there is a concept known as a self-fulfilling prophecy which describes how certain beliefs can influence our actions in a way that makes those beliefs actually come true. It’s an example of the positive feedback loop between beliefs → behaviors → outcomes.

The basic idea is that our beliefs have a real affect on the world we live in. We all have a map of reality in our heads about how the world works. These beliefs thus affect how we respond to the situations we find ourselves in, which then influences the results we get in life.

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Emotions can be very useful when they guide us to act in helpful and constructive ways, but sometimes emotions can be misleading and dangerous.

At times, it’s better to disengage from our emotional instincts rather than act on them impulsively without questioning them or challenging them.

One technique used to challenge these destructive emotions is called “opposite action.” The key idea behind “opposite action” is that every emotion comes with an action tendency.

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