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There is a saying on your world: "where your attention goes, energy flows."
Now, this principle is true. And this principle also correctly suggests to not spend too much time on consuming depressing news that isn't directly relevant to you, for example.
However, people who hear this principle may think that if pain or so-called negative emotions arise in them, then they should suppress those feelings. Because after all, if you pay attention to pain or to so-called negative emotions, then your energy flows to them, right? And surely you don't want that.
Well, the issue here is that people misinterpret who "you" is.
When people hear: "where your attention goes, energy flows", they interpret this as if "your" only refers to their conscious mind. However, "your" also includes your subconscious and your soul, among others.
So yes: "where your mind goes, energy flows -- and 'you' includes your subconscious and your soul."
And if you suppress pain or so-called negative emotions, then your subconscious keeps focusing on that pain or on the so-called negative emotions. Whereas if you just observe them, without immediately trying to change or suppress or judge that, then they will weaken or leave after a period of time, and then all of you will stop giving attention to it.
So the actual best way to deal with so-called negative emotions -- observing them -- is the opposite of what many people think that sentence suggests -- suppress your negative emotions
This realization, that you aren't just your conscious mind but are also your subconscious and your soul, is actually important in general. And it clarifies other spiritual principles too.
For example, yes, you can manifest the desired life you want -- but that "you" includes your subconscious and your soul. So if you have subconscious blocks or trauma, then repeatedly visualizing a nice life probably won't work. And if your soul wants you to learn a certain lesson, or just wants you to have a certain kind of life experience, or wants you to go through rough things so that you can be a wounded healer later, then that too is a part of "you" that can manifest things.
This also means that it's pretty silly to make arguments like "if you have a nice life, you're spiritually advanced; if you don't, you're not." Whether someone's life is pleasant is greatly impacted by what kind of experiences their soul wants them to have in that life.
For example, if one person's soul wants to experience love in this life, they might pretty effortlessly roll into a blissful relationship and a happy life.
If another person's soul wants to do service as a wounded healer, they might experience decades of hell.
Now obviously your soul isn't the only determining factor. Your conscious mind and your actions matter too. It is absolutely worth it to do spiritual practice and to practically improve your life. And yes, some people do make better choices than others, and making better choices does tend to lead to having a better life.
Still, it is useful to keep in mind that "you" are more than just your conscious mind.
I hope this was helpful.
