Emotions are one of the great parts of being human!
Think about the faces you make when you drop one of your partner’s favourite things and it breaks – you look up at each other…. what is conveyed? Anger? Saddness? Irritation? In that split second, your facial expression tells a thousand words…
Emotions can be a powerful, important tool when dealing with every day situations. We have an amazing ability to feel and convey six universally accepted emotions (+ a couple others such as love and shame that don’t make the ‘official’ list):
- fear
- anger
- sadness
- happiness
- surprise, and
- disgust
I often like watching people. Not in a freaky, stalker kind of way, but sitting waiting for a bus.. or waiting outside the shops while my wife is buying something – I like to watch peoples faces. Are they in a hurry? Are they upset? When we look at people we can gauge very quickly whether they are familiar. We also can instantaneously pick up on their current mood or feelings, and whether or not they look lazy/studious/old/worried etc – and then we respond accordingly.
We use our emotions to influence our behaviour.
If we feel afraid, we try and escape from the danger. If we are disgusted, we might feel sick. When happy, we might laugh and relax. We use emotions every day to make lifestyle decisions.
Uncontrolled Emotion
So why is it that sometimes our emotions seem to have a mind of their own – something might trigger a sad memory and cause someone to become instantly upset, and some people fly into fits of unprovoked aggression at the drop of a hat.
We need to be able to feel and recognise a range of emotions, but problems seem to occur when there are extremes of emotions: sadness can lead to depressive states, pleasure can lead to addictions, sadness can become depression. Feeling afraid in a dangerous situation is natural and useful, but being too afraid or being unreasonably fearful can lead to panic attacks, phobias and anxiety.
Familydoctor.org have some great tips on dealing with emotions:
* Learn to express your feelings in appropriate ways. It’s important to let people close to you know when something is bothering you. Keeping feelings of sadness or anger inside takes extra energy and can cause problems in your relationships and at work or school.
* Think before you act. Emotions can be powerful. But before you get carried away by your emotions and say or do something you might regret, give yourself time to think.
* Strive for balance in your life. Make time for things you enjoy. Focus on positive things in your life.
* Take care of your physical health. Your physical health can affect your emotional health. Take care of your body by exercising regularly, eating healthy meals and getting enough sleep. Don’t abuse drugs or alcohol.
