"One way to understand moods is that they are just the habit patterns of our mind continually playing themselves out in different scenarios. According to the view of dharma, we don't need to understand them or consider them so much as we need to replace them with new habits. This is where practice comes in. When we practice, we involve our body, emotions and mind in a new habit which is much more "real" in the sense that it is in line with the reality of enlightenment. This is the definition of purification. The problem with paying much attention at all to emotional states is that we must on some level believe that they are real if we are considering them at all. We reinforce our sense of egoic reality by examing and exploring them, much in the way Narcissis was enamored of his reflection. When we come to practice from that place, we create extra obstacles and encounter even greater resistance." -- A'dzom Rinpoche