Question:  What would you like us to know about emotions?

Higgins:  We thought you’d never ask. We say this with great affection as well as with delight that you are heading in this direction.

Emotions are your guidance system. You are programmed to want to feel good and to prefer good feeling emotions over emotions that do not feel good.

We’d say it’s like having a co-pilot with you at all times telling you which way to turn at any given moment. Only it’s not like having a co-pilot. You have a co-pilot. Your co-pilot is with you at all times and guides you relative to your ‘flight plan’. Prior to your birth you have planned a life that will provide you with the spiritual growth that you desire.

While life is a little bit like a play and you simply one character within the story, your life is not scripted: you ad-lib all the way. There are some defining events that give structure and shape to your life. How you respond is up to you. Furthermore, your response also determines what life events will unfold next. Each of you literally draws each next life event towards you relative to your thoughts, emotions and beliefs.

Your emotions regarding a given event are a glorious game of Hot and Cold. Rather than using verbal cues like ‘you’re cold’ or ‘you’re getting warmer’ or ‘ooh, hot, hot, hot!’ your copilot uses emotions to help you understand where you are relative to where your flight plan says you wanted to go.

Everyone’s plans for life differ. But one thing remains the same: you planned a life that would cause spiritual growth and you knew that you had a compass to direct you. Let’s say that bliss is due north on your compass and we’ll gently define bliss as being in love with everything all at once. It’s a bursting with happiness sort of feeling. Any emotion that feels good is some northerly direction and emotions that feel bad are not. Anytime you feel bad you need to stop and recalculate where your emotional north is.

You are literally programmed to seek happiness and your copilot gives you emotions relative to your thoughts and actions. Your job is to recognize when you are not happy and make immediate changes that alter your course towards happiness.

As long as you do this continual realignment with happiness and other good feeling emotions, your life will unfold tidily. You will have quite a nice life despite having some bumps in the road. If, because of those bumps in the road, you allow yourself to dwell in emotions that do not feel good life will be difficult.

Being a good person will not bring happiness. Happiness brings happiness. Don’t beat yourself up for being a good person with a difficult life. Just choose to turn towards feelings of relief. Take action that brings relief and always, always do as Joseph Campbell suggests: Follow your bliss and doors will open where there were no doors before.