Your Thrival Instincts

We're all considerably versed in what survival instincts are and how they function. But is there such a thing as thrival instincts- some sort of internal message telling us we are or aren't thriving?

I believe our emotions to be instincts of thriving. Emotions- positive and negative- are internal messages letting us know how our life situation is, in both good and bad contexts.

As painful as negative emotions are, if you never felt the need to scream, cry, become violent, taking revenge, etc.; then how would you know that something was wrong with the experiences of yourself and others? Likewise, without being able to feel positive emotions, you would never be excited at major life changes or pleased with the accomplishments of yourself and others.

The human spirit is blessed with an abundance in regards to its potential to feel myriads of differing emotions- both positive and negative. The stronger the spirit of one's soul, the stronger one will feel.

It's healthy to avoid negative emotions. But there are two ways of doing it. The first way is thorugh pacifying the negative emotion through distractions (i.e., TV, partying, drugs, etc.). On the other hand, the second way (and more healthier one) is by considering the emotion a side effect of a problem, and dealing with the problem. That way, one would treat the problem, rather than the symptom.

The truth is, negative and positive emotions are not causal phenomena, but rather, circumstantial ones. You don't feel feelings for no reason- something has to trigger them. So when your feelings of negativity are resultant of something gone wrong, why seek to pacify your thrival instincts? Better would be to accept the emotions you feel, and use them as a guide to help you deal properly with the problem at hand to find solutions.

Can you immagine if you didn't have negative emotions to guide you in the context of a major injustice or crisis? What a bereaved existence that would be- you couldn't even call such a life living.

People whom I simply cannot understand are those hell bent and high strung on ignore their emotions, for the red flags that they are. These thriving instincts tell us that either something has gone right (we're thriving) or something has gone wrong (we're not thriving). Those included in this group include 'Happy-Pill Poppers,' who drug themselves out of feeling anything very strongly (that's really to cease living); and 'Exotic-Philosophy Gurus,' who sell you lies like "nothing is real everything is an illusion" and so you must be "detached" in all circumstances.

If you pop 'happy-pills' or detach yourself from life- then you're missing the point of it! Life is about consciousness- about being aware, living, feeling, learning!

So in which spirit does a general state of happiness reside- the sacraficial, indulgent, indifferent or...? No one really knows accepet for those who figure out what happiness means to them, and attain it. But don't be supprised, if, when you ask yourself what happiness really is, you find it's more intricate, enigmatic, and quite different from what you've been told it is.

Whatever you feel, accept it. Just feel it until you are ready to let go of it. If you are feeling something negative, realize that's just a warning sign from your thrival instincts that something is wrong, and must be dealt with in some way. Few of us ever work through all the problems of our own life, let alone of the state of the world (without detaching from reality and abandoning human emotions, that is)- but that might just be part of this intricate, enigmatic, and beautiful thing we call conscious living.