Emotions are primary. Thoughts are secondary.
Thoughts float through the mind, marching by, circling back, insistent.
Emotions well up from the deep, unbidden,
then flow out, swirl, erupt like a geyser.
Neither emotion nor thought can be controlled,
but emotion is the primal power.
Emotion is the horse, thought the rider.
But who controls who?
Thoughts are wisps of cumulus cloud on a sunny day,
which fade and disappear.
Emotions are the thunderstorms and hurricanes
you never forget.
Emotions are primary.
–E. D. Nelson
Beautifully expressed! 🌤🌨
Thanks, Julie. For the longest time I truly believed that thought was primary. Then life taught me otherwise. Emotion colors thought. Emotion shifts thought. A bout of depression, or of grief, is very convincing on this point. Emotions are primary.