DW's Blog

The Power of Perception: Taking Ownership of Our Emotional Responses

by DW Green — March 26, 2025

The emotions we experience, though very real, originate from within ourselves, not from external circumstances.

When we say things like “My work is overwhelming” or “My boss is frustrating me,” we’re making a fundamental error in how we understand our emotions. These external factors—work tasks or another person’s behavior— don’t actually have the ability to create feelings within us. They exist outside us and cannot access our minds.

The emotions we experience, though very real, originate from within ourselves, not from external circumstances. This insight was central to Stoic philosophy, which used the term “hypolepsis” (meaning “taking up”) to describe how our minds process perceptions, thoughts, and judgments.

What we assume and what we generate in our minds belongs to us alone. We cannot legitimately blame others for making us feel stressed or frustrated any more than we can blame them for our jealousy. The true cause of these feelings resides within us—external factors merely serve as the targets of our emotional responses.