Emotions are an essential part of our daily lives and it would be difficult to imagine life without them.
It is emotions that make each day unique and memorable. Emotions are created by thoughts in our head.
- A pleasant thought = a pleasant emotion.
- A worrying thought = a difficult and unpleasant emotion.
We feel joy when we receive what we wanted for our birthday, sad when we lose a person close to us and shame when we get caught doing something inappropriate. Emotions can change every minute and every day, depending on the situation. We can also feel many emotions at the same time.
Emotions can be very powerful and when they take over, they can start to control our behaviour and we can lose control over it. When it happens, we can often do unthinkable things that we later regret and say unthinkable words that we would like to take back. But that is impossible.
To avoid this situation, it is important to understand what is happening within us. Just like life is not black and white, emotions are not good or bad. An emotion that seems bad at first can turn out to be a lifesaver if we know how to listen to it. It can warn us of danger or pass along a message: “Something needs to change, do something!”
Once we understand what is happening within us, the emotion will not have as much power over us and we can be our own masters again.
Emotions have names and being able to name what is happening within us means we understand it. We experience an abundance of emotions, which form six distinctive groups:
- anger (rage, grudge, disappointment, irritation, indignation, offence, bitterness, hostility, displeasure, irritability, violence);
- fear (anxiety, unease, nervousness, worry, dismay, apprehension, caution, hesitation, irritability, dread, fright, panic);
- disgust (contempt, loathing, distaste, detestation, repulsion, unpleasantness, irritation);
- surprise (wonder, excitement, astonishment);
- joy (happiness, mirth, pleasure, contentment, bliss, pride, satisfaction, charm, gratification, euphoria, approval, friendliness, trust, goodness, affinity, affection, admiration);
- sadness (concern, cheerlessness, regret, guilt, shame, loneliness, melancholy, despair, depression).
These emotions are considered inherent in most people and it is thought that they are present from birth. At first, they are unconscious, and all people experience and express them similarly. Sometimes we can have several emotions acting within us at the same time and have the same amount of difficult/unpleasant and pleasant/elevating emotions in various shades. Such as contentment, happiness, gratitude, enthusiasm, love, worry, shame, guilt and many more.
How are emotions expressed?
The social rules of expressing emotions tell us when it is appropriate to express a certain emotion. Emotions can manifest in us, for example, in the form of a racing heart and hyperventilating, and can be visible to others through facial expressions and words, the latter of which we can control the best. In which part of the body do we experience or feel a certain emotion? Here are a few examples:
- anxiety mostly manifests as pain and tension in the chest area;
- falling in love, however, creates a warm and pleasurable feeling in your entire body;
- we show surprise with the help of facial expressions, by raising our brows so that our forehead is wrinkled;
- when angry, we pull our eyebrows down and towards the middle;
- joy makes us smile or laugh out loud.
Emotions are our teachers and we must learn to observe and listen to them.
Prepared by the youth information portal Teeviit on the basis of MTÜ Peaasjad www.peaasi.ee.
The MTÜ Peaasjad promotes mental health, deals with problem prevention, early intervention and stigma reduction in our society.
The article was published in 2022.
