Which happens first?

The way we feel influences the way we act, just as much as the way we act influences the way we feel. What caused what? What influenced what? Where does it start? Where does it end? 

We can decide what we do, but that decision is almost always entirely based on how we feel. And more often than not, we can’t choose how we feel. 

We are perpetually mired in this vicious, capricious cycle that seems to taunt us, provoking us to question the validity of our belief in our free will. 

This is perhaps one of humanity’s greatest merits—the ability to delude ourselves so convincingly into thinking we are in control, fabricating and internalizing whatever narratives that will lead us to believe we, amidst this chaotic, unforgiving existence that we call life, have the power to determine our own fate. And while doing so, making something beautiful out of it.