When I think of an enemy I get angry
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You may have read elsewhere on this site that meditation relies on the fact that there is a gap between stimulus and response, and that (assuming we’re aware) we can make choices in that gap. We can choose how we will respond in any given situation. Buddhist psychology draws an interesting distinction between feeling and emotion, and this distinction throws some light into the gap.
Feeling
In common usage we tend to use the words feeling and emotion pretty much interchangeably, but in Buddhist psychology feeling (vedana) refers to our basic, gut-level likes and dislikes. Feelings are basically of three kinds — pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral.
These responses are automatic — we have no control over them. There are some things about some people that we simply do not like at any given moment (our likes and dislikes can change over time, however).
Feelings really are “gut level” responses. When we feel uncomfortable in particular we experience the sensation in the belly. This is probably to do with the autonomic nervous system responding to different stimuli by changing the pattern of nervous stimulation to the body, including the intestines.
Paying attention to these feelings is very useful. Sometimes we override the “gut feelings” we have about situations and regret it later. Of course those gut feelings are not always accurate — evolution favors a certain degree of caution. If the woods look dark and scary then it may well be favorable to your survival to avoid going in there.
Those feelings are useful even in situations that are far removed from survival. say for example I mis-spell the common word “enough” and render it as “eneugh.” Notice what happens in your guts when you look at the mis-spelling. Generally people feel a distinctly unpleasant sensation. It’s often by paying attention to feelings that we can recognize, say, good writing from bad writing.
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