Mantra

 "Stop mind-reading in order to avoid feeling pain." I've been asking the wrong question of myself. It is "How do you feel?" NOT "Why do you feel?" The the statement is "I feel unhappy", NOT "I feel unhappy because ...". It seems I was taught I must 'justify my feelings' in order to have them. If I couldn't justify them it, was 'wrong' to have them. I was being "bad" if I could not explain my feelings. "I" was bad, not my feelings.  If how I feel upsets someone else, it must be 'fixed'. Just like here on DS, where I feel I must apologise if expressing my feelings in my Journal disturbs my Friends. What was happening is that I was being falsely taught that I was hurting someone else's feelings by having, and/or expressing, my own. So that if I cannot explain Why I have my feelings, I cannot have them. It's so simple: Stop feeling the need to justify WHY I feel how I feel. Feel better? (Have a nice day, in traditional Chinese)