The Self and the Mind are the same. From a universal perspective, the mind is cosmic and is seen in the light of Atman, the infinite being of individuality. An unrestricted Mind not governed by a controlling ego is the true expression of an integrated Self or Atman. When not caught in the clutches of the personal me, or a limited ego/self, the cosmic status of the Mind is seen as the actual doer and life reality, the dynamic aspect of consciousness. The realization of an unbounded Self is an unrestricted Mind where the individual ego still plays a vital role but is more the servant than the personal one identified with situations and circumstances. The ego will always try to intercede, questioning the validity of the emotional self by manipulating one’s feelings through thought to the psychology of self-relationship presenting seeming control of reality.
Self is feeling into the layers of the mind, from the ego to the body sense, perceptions, discrimination, memories, and impressions, to emotions and fine-fine feelings. These inner instruments of the mind process thoughts, emotions, and self-identity. On the level of fine-fine cognitive feelings, the heart center, one can distinguish or appreciate the nature of the unbounded, infinite Self, the Universal Mind.
Your innate, most refined emotional guidance system will always present feelings appropriate for the situation or circumstance in your reality. There are no false feelings, no incorrect or wrong feelings, and no conflict with negative feelings. And most importantly, emotions and feelings do not speak to our circumstances. An emotion or fine feeling is a reflection, feedback, a response from your inner world. It is how you perceive at any given moment. Delicate feelings, even visceral emotions, are a direct line of communication to universal intelligence.
Ordinarily, without realizing the cosmic status of the Mind, it hijacks feelings, and the more negative the feeling, the mind constricts, resists, and finds itself in elevated separation from the feeling and the environmental circumstance of the situation. Conditioned behavioral tendencies take over to suppress negative emotions. Within the mind, thoughts and emotions are intricately entwined. The egoic mind thinks based on a conditioned belief system, and a corresponding feeling arises. The feeling is neither right nor wrong. It is just a reflection of your inner self. Negative emotions reveal constriction of self, the egoic mind separating from the feeling. Positive emotions reveal the expansive nature of the Universal Self. Primarily, if the emotion is negative, you may perceive your environment incorrectly. The perceived circumstance is neutral and is not a directive for a behavioral response. It is communicating the truth about our inner self. And no matter what, you are always looking at yourself.
We usually don’t pay much attention to our emotions, dismissing them and favoring reactive longstanding behavioral conditioning. The problem arises when co-opted by a limited ego/mind that runs a controlling conditioned narrative on any feeling based on stored subconscious impressions. The description is a conditioned belief that the ego/mind has associated with a past response that may span centuries. It is all false; it’s from experience forwarded by the Ego to provide evidence of current situations’ content. The mechanical nature of the Ego is thinking it is doing its job to inform itself of how or how not to react based on familiarity. The feeling or emotion arising is a natural occurrence throughout any human life. It is to present and bring uncompleted Karma to resolution or a state of balance. The Karmas associated with feelings can be from ancient or relatively current subconscious impressions or a mix of both.
Negative emotions represent stored, unhealed, distorted energy blocks in the Chakra System. Positive emotions can also be expressed as unresolved energy blocks placed in the nervous system due to a stimuli overload. Both negative and positive have no definitive meaning as they are just opposite in polarity. One is constricting; the other is expansive. There are similar energy bundles on the level of frequency vibration, but their expression in the physical plane is different. They also can be of ancient and current history and are the memories of past, present, and future presentations if not transmuted. This is part of the legacy of human birth. Until a resolution of actual self-awakening shifts, the possibilities of dealing with distorted energy blocks in the system are daunting, as the limited ego/mind has difficulty distinguishing what is real. Thoughts give a voice to these blockages and reinforce them through the Ego based on pure belief.
Questioning a belief is a masculine approach to healing; emoting is a feminine approach. Typically, both are valid with any gender, and a mix often happens. The male process inquires into the unhealed area, which was initially brought forth by feeling a truism based on the discriminating qualities of the heart. The emotions surface, and thoughts are associated with the emotional energy signature. The mind wants to make sense of or categorize feelings into meaning based on individual conditioning or perspective. The feminine approach is more subtle or refined in the healing dynamic as it is closer to a source of an unhealed area, the heart center of the soul, the Self. But the mind can surely place context and guide itself to the site to bring it forth as the heart feels as deeply as possible to allow the energies to transmute. Again, the mind can pinpoint the stored location of unhealed emotion through feeling. In that case, the feminine can dive deeply into and under the surface arising, bring it out thoroughly, and then release it through love, gratitude, acceptance, and forgiveness.