I use meditation to gain awareness over my thoughts and emotions. I just observe what I am feeling and thinking. I wonder if there is a way to take it further. Like where are these thought and emotion comes from and what causes them.

The most valuable technique I’ve found is from Pena Chödron. She advises to drop the story line and experience the feelings thoughts by listening to the physical body experience. What happens for me then, usually, Is that I realize these feels are echos of past-very early-experiences. Then I can go back that that early time (imaginatively) and comfort that little person who was hurt.
Then…suddenly that thing that was bothering me- well it doesn’t any more.

Journaling has been helpful is freethinking my way into personal answers. Meditation has a way of emptying, of shining attention to the thoughts that are prominent or invasive. Writing on the other hand leans on the thoughts, as reflection, and helps get to the bottom
of certain thought patterns.

I totally support you in following what you are drawn to do. If you feel you need to follow these thoughts and emotions on a path I think that's great! I personally do my meditation and don't get deep into following thoughts there. I prefer that to be a time to be one and present. Immediately after my meditation I journal. This would be a great time to try to explore those thoughts and emotions. I also highly recommend counseling. That would be another step that you could get an expert (find one that is fit for you) to assist in following those thoughts and feelings. They have great insight! I wish you the best in your journey!

That is facinating. I wonder if psychology is a good outlet to get at the root of emotions, or maybe meditation retreats? Not sure exactly

Interesting question. I am reading a book called So Happy and Grateful that discusses emotions and where they come from. They come from either love or fear.

I do have an issue with staying focused on one task. I start doing several things without completing the previous. Sometimes,I cannot complete even a congradulation messages to be sent to my friends in one time, I got interrupted with a thought to type it better, to google better ideas, start searching something etc. Once I got interrupted, I may start to do other things and then come back to read it all over again and make changes to an existing text.

Nice to see meditation being used well! Personally, I feel like there is an emotional/short term being and a logical/long term being within me….we need to balance out these…and currently, too much is dominated by the impulsive child…scriptures suggest that there is the body, mind(emotional), intelligence(logical) and soul(the real you!)…to take care of the first three is to open the doors of your soul to express itself!….anatomically, the short term impulsive character is in the subcortical structures while intelligence is more in the frontal areas of brain…so to recognise that there are different personalities within you, and that there is a true you too is the beginning of something beautiful! Hope this helped…all the best!

What creates our thoughts and emotions are the most prehistoric and fundamental structures of our mind. Our mind collects our experiences along with what we were given through genetics and creates scripts. Dive into psychology and the structures of the mind like the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. I want to as well suggest practicing meditation as a way to not only gain awareness of your thoughts and emotions but also to begin seeing them as separate from yourself.

https://wakingup.com

Try to notice whats happens in your body while you're having this thought or emotion.
Does it reflects in a specific part of your body? How does it feels like? Explore it…
If it a thought, try to notice if there is an emotion related to that thought or vice versa.

The point of meditation is to separate ourselves from our thoughts understanding, through the practice, that there are thoughts that come to us that hold no value. We give them value when we try to hold on to them and examine them that’s why mindfulness meditation is to observe them objectively from a distance while checking the body sensations they produce

I find the most rewarding meditation sessions are the ones where i am able to do nothing, think nothing, and be nothing. It is in achieving this level of stillness that I find the deepest revelations about myself. In doing nothing, I discover everything. See you in the Gap.

I encourage you to try Sam Harris’ Waking Up meditation app. He guides meditations that go much more deeply into exploring the concepts of self and consciousness. It’s been very profound for me.