If you love reading fiction then you should know this.
Say you are reading a romance novel with some kind of betrayal in it and all of a sudden you start to feel the same emotions the narrator of the story is feeling. You start to resent the other person, hope he gets his or her revenge, or start to wish for more groveling. All for a person that doesn’t even exist in reality but in your mind. But it is really amazing to know how much that story impacts our nervous system. We go on days thinking about that story with different scenarios hoping for some more drama.
Rush of Emotions
And the higher the reactivity to any story, the higher be chances that you wish to read something like that again. Because your body now craves that adrenaline rush of emotions, that makes you feel something more. So you go from one story to another to chase those emotions until one day you realize those emotions have started to become a part of your reality.
If you feel emotions such as anger, resentment, betrayal, etc while reading then your body will start to look for reasons to feel them again in reality. And guess what? Now you don’t even need a book to feel the rush of emotions because your body has practiced it enough times that it has become its nature.
Now if you’re accustomed to the law of attraction then you might know how we think and how we feel creates our reality. I guess you understand better now what we are creating with the stuff we are seeing and reading.
Reading Fiction becomes Real
Some may say they aren’t thinking about themselves, it is just a story that is going on in their head. Well, I want you to pause for a second and ask, who is listening to these stories that you’re repeating in your head. Stories of betrayal, heartbreak, violence, revenge, etc who are you condemning in your head, or in other words who is listening and feeling anger? Coincidentally you are the hurt one and you are the one who doesn’t want it to stop hurting. How?
Let’s take an example, say you read a novel for grovel to satisfy your urge to make someone feel miserable about themselves because they hurt you so they deserve to feel those emotions. Right? Now just simply ask yourself when the other person is groveling and you want them to feel emotions like guilt so you start to imagine a situation and imagine them again feeling guilty. Who is actually feeling those emotions?
No other Person
There is no other person. There’s only you. When we wish someone to feel a certain way, we are wishing it upon ourselves. Say someone hurt you and you start to imagine how something like this will happen to them and then they will feel the same way as you or worse. Hello? What are you doing here? You are the one who is repeating those emotions. This is the reason why they tell you to let go. Because it’s hurting only you.
Marilyn Jenett talks about it more clearly in her book. She says that the mind doesn’t know anyone else but you … When we criticize others or find fault … .our mind thinks we are speaking about ourselves.
Become Aware of Patterns
I love reading fiction and there are days when I want to feel hurt. Why? Because I can’t get enough from my environment so I create it by reading fiction. I try to be conscious of this but sometimes I just can’t. The moment I recognize the pattern, I become aware that I have been denying a part of myself that wanted to be accepted. One part who betrayed and another is betrayed. Both parts are imagined in my mind thus they become me. But since the egoic mind is so involved in its hurt that it forgets who it ultimately was hurting.
I won’t ask you to stop reading because I myself am an avid reader too. But I want you to become aware of what you are reading and watching. Do you want those stories and emotions to become part of your life? Do you wish for yourself to live a life with such agitated emotions? You emerged from God’s source energy, from unconditional love. Imagine how difficult it is for your body to cope with such intense emotions which are anything but love. Give your nervous system a break, and read some light, loving, or devotional stuff. Or you can just sit and observe your thoughts. Love yourself enough to do this.
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