As a long time meditator, I can say that as you regard thoughts more as potentially useful but maybe not mental formations rather than as bits of truth, then th

As a long time meditator, I can say that as you regard thoughts more as potentially useful but maybe not mental formations rather than as bits of truth, then the energy behind the positive and the negative feelings becomes a little less. Rather than everything becoming a totality, it's more gentle; not "I'm going to die" but an awareness of a negative feeling. Not "I'm the emperor!" but a pleasure in doing something well. As feelings become safer to experience and your perceptiveness becomes tuned into the way your interior world works, I find a greater diversity of feelings. The way I can eat very spicy food and just blow up if I'm not used to it, or if my spice taste is adjusted, I can enjoy the way all the subtle flavors mix together and are amplified by the spice, being aware of thoughts and feelings is like the right amount of spice - fully alive as a sensate and sentient creature, but free anyways, free in the moment to steer your body/mind.