I find myself very often trying to generate a feeling…like joy, energy, happiness, love, self-love. These are all good feelings/emotions of course.
While I’m in the action of trying to generate a feeling, am I actually in some way avoiding another feeling?
For instance – I listened to one of the podcasts where someone said they often call people as a way of buffering. I had never thought about that being a form of buffering. But today I found myself seeking a certain good feeling and thought, “Oh, I could call _______ and catch up with them and that would make me feel great!”
And typically with things like alcohol, I am trying to generate a feeling of “happiness” or “content”. So, it all starts in the same way.
With things like alcohol, I can see clearly that’s buffering for me…but with some of these other activities, I am suddenly questioning whether or not I’m doing these things to avoid a feeling. Is the desire to generate a good feeling perhaps an avenue for avoiding the bad ones?
Thanks!