Happy and Harmless:
I think what is most commonly the cause though is the bad feeling(bear with me for an explanation) because an emotion is after all a message from the fast-acting primitive brain that something has gone awry.
Yes and to be precise: it is the (sub-conscious) conviction/belief/perception that something is awry, not a fact.
Happy and Harmless:
So how does one get back to feeling better if one doesn't clearly remember what got him in the trap.How about the times when you felt bad for some time and the memory of what it is to feel good is not clear and accessible.
In the case of sadness, in my experience, it is not neccessary to clearly remember the cause of it in order to feel better. When I fully experience/acknowledge it, which may or may not involve crying, the energy is released and I feel immediately lighter. This might vary of course according to the amount 'I' have / had invested in the situation.
In the case of anger, right now I can´t recall an instance where I wasn´t able to trace it back to its origin, i.e. the point where something didn´t work out the way I expected it to / where I felt violated etc. Realising that it is only in your own best interest to let go of that anger, independently if someone did 'wrong' by you, is the way to go and - as all of this - might take multiple attempts. If you can´t let go, try to see what purpose this anger fulfills. Am I getting angry to protect myself from something?
If I am unable to clearly define what it is I am feeling, it is usually an instance of insincerity, i.e.repression(->Trent´s post). It is important to point out, that there is no underlying moralistic tone to recognizing and acknowleding that one has been insincere. It is more a matter of being unable to be sincere (due to feeling bad/afraid) than being 'a bad person that doesn´t want to change'.
"What is it in my life that I´m not happy about?" "What would I like to change if I had a magic wand?" Again, to allow yourself to be vulnerable and recognize and acknowledge e.g. "ah, yes, I´m sad that I have no money / work is so stressfull / I´m all alone" etc is enough to allow for that feeling / pain to be fully felt and released. No further investigation involved until that point. It indeed can be helpful to get to at least a neutral state of feeling before deeper investigation into the roots of the problem is possible because the better I feel the more I am willing to look closely and objectively.
If neccessary, as sometimes in my case, take a timeout, some mundane distraction like a (comedy) movie, food, sports or something else that you feel is satisfying in order to build that willingness to do some earnest looking.
And to add something else, which I had to learn time and time again: There is a certain relief that comes from simply reading forum posts / aft articles about my problems, making 'me' (temporarily) feel better, but at some point (how about now?) you have to get down to doing it, otherwise it just turns into a fantasy / hope which keeps you going in circles.