I like to say that the difference between your expectations and experience = your emotions. And thus, if you have high expectations and those expectations aren't met through the reality of the experience, then you'll likely experience an uncomfortable emotion. Likewise, if you fully accept where your at, limit your expectations, and embrace the experience - the emotions you experience may be incredibly different in nature.
But in the end, as you said, acceptance is the first step. It's truly a powerful way to be.
These Three Words Will Instantly Change How You Perceive Your LifeThanks for sharing @csbegu. I'd love to hear your thoughts about my recent post:
Great reply, @axios. In indian philosophy emotion stems from the ananda feature of the soul (the three features are sat = awareness, chit = knowledge and ananda = happiness, pleasure, bliss). First there is the uncaused, ever-existing thirst for ever expanding happiness (ananda). Based on this, sub-desires emerge and plans to fulfill them -- in the sense that all desire is a form of looking for happiness. And based on what happens next with the fulfillment of those desires (or the perspective of fulfillment/unfulfillment) emotions arise.
So, yes, based on what purposes (desires) you have, there are different emotions arising from that. Anxiety appears when our desires look like they won't be fulfilled. When that is absolutely confirmed (there's nothing to be done anymore) anxiety disappears and anger appears in some people, or detachment appears in other people.
Interesting! I have not studied this indian philosophy but it's intriguing to see how it relates to my own studies. Makes sense to me!
One of the people that have introduced me to the depths of Indian philosophy is Indian thinker Ashish Dalela. Here are his posts in the Psychology category on his blog. Very deep and thought-provoking stuff:
https://www.ashishdalela.com/category/psychology/