Our life may seem normal but often times, we have very strong feelings. We feel happy when we achieve something in life. We tend to feel sad when someone criticizes us. We get angry when someone disturbs us while doing important work.

Happy, sad, angry maybe just dictionary words for people, but do you know why would we feel in that way? Because, in reality, these are emotions, and they tend to change according to our mood.

Being human, we are emotional creatures. We all experience a range of emotions every day – and, like the weather, our emotions can subject to change rapidly. Sometimes this process can be confusing or even overwhelming. 

For instance, when we go for a special party, we tend to talk with joy and excitement with familiar people. On the contrary, we become anxious when encountered with unknown faces. Even we get a mixed feelings of happiness, amusement and nervousness.

When it comes to emotions, we have little or no choice in how we feel. We all have emotional needs, and they’re just as important as physical needs.

Understanding emotions

With a revolution in the science of emotion, the role of emotion is quite specified.

Emotions are feelings, and it is nothing but the result of our way to process information. This subjective mental state can occur as a response to external events or internal stimuli such as thoughts or memories.

Also Check : Let’s Talk About Mental Health 

In this journey of life, we face the situations that create different emotional reactions. Emotions get activated when we experience certain situations or feelings. They are merely responses and get expressed in the non-verbal form like body language and facial expression. 

Every person has a natural tendency to experience some kinds of feelings more frequently than others. We also differ in how strongly we feel the same emotion. After all, we all play different role and carry various responsibilities. 

There is a wide spectrum of emotions. We can experience many different emotions – ranging from happiness to sadness to irritation along with everything in between. However, six basic emotions which are universally experienced are anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise.

Certain thoughts are always attached to our particular emotions. It is always easy to simply react to things happening around us and quickly gets emotional. This is especially true if we are more emotionally vulnerable.

Why do we need emotions?

Let’s imagine living in a world where emotions do not appear to exist. There are no clear indications of joy, sadness, or anger. So much so that even differentiating these emotions does not exist, and everyone looks the same and talks the same.

Would you love to live in that world? 

Certainly not…

Emotions can both motivate or demotivate us depending on which ones are driving the experience. Emotions are an embodied response to a stimulus and are experienced along a continuum from positive to negative. These stimuli are real or perceived, external or internal. 

Positive emotions including joy, interest, curiosity, enthusiasm and creativity can activate the reward system of the brain. This makes life experience desirable, broaden our perspective and make us resilient to respond effectively to criticism and failure.

Negative emotion such as stress, sadness, anxiety, worry and fear can demotivate us. Negative emotional status clouded our thinking and hampers our ability to respond to challenges.

Furthermore, emotions are inherently linked to memory and experiences. They have a strong influence on cognitive skills such as attention, memory, executive function, decision-making, critical thinking, problem-solving, all of which play a key role in shaping life.

You see, emotions color our world and help guide us through life, and give us insight into our inner thought process. Therefore, experiencing the full range of emotions adds meaning to our lives. 

Absolutely, some of these emotions evoke more pleasant feelings than others. Still, there is no such thing as a “good” or “ bad” emotion. Every emotion has its role in a healthy inner life.

Regulating our emotional responses

Although emotions are normal part of our lives, it can sometimes be intense and overwhelming. While it is generally good to understand our emotions and not to suppress them, there are situations where we must somehow manage our emotions well.

For instance, getting too much angry can ruin your relationships or excessive worries about future snatch your precious present moments. Similarly, experiencing excessive joy or euphoria may prevent you from understanding possibilities of hidden risk.

When we’re experiencing strong emotions, we often lose touch with reality and we get caught up in our personal story line. In order to get grounded, we must learn to bring our attention to the present. 

Learning to effectively regulate emotions is an adaptive skill. Sometimes, simple acceptance of emotions makes you feel a lot better. Emotion is temporary. But, by learning to understand and process the different emotions we encounter, we get better equipped to deal with a wide range of situations that might otherwise appear overwhelming. 

We need to give enough time to explore emotions, supporting us to feel more comfortable and confident in life.  

It makes sense to manage our emotions in peaceful way that will enable us to powerfully navigate our inner world. 

After all, practicing emotional well-being is key to understand self and generate a joyful, fulfilling life.

Also Check : Nurturing Mental Health

Disclaimer

Mediclin Brain Health’s content is for informational and educational purposes only. Our website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.