I often find myself saying…“so-and-so makes me feel sad…(or angry…or afraid etc.)” but I’ve been taught that people don’t make us feel certain ways…rather that we do that for ourselves… we are responsible for the way we feel…and then ultimately the way we react…

I am not talking about whether we are responsible for how we react at all… it is simply the feeling we get…where does that come from? Is it a question of fault – responsibility?

For example, if I feel happy and positive when I wake up and go visit a friend and within a a few minutes begin to feel down and negative as a (what I believe to be..) direct consequence of their behaviour… Are they responsible for my feelings or am I?

Please feel free to use other examples…this is just a very simplistic one to show my point…

Topics: psychology, people, philosophy, neurology, interaction, emotions, thinking, thoughts, feelings, responsibility, reaction, blame