[Neurons] 2024 Neurons #3 WHAT ARE EMOTIONS ANYWAY?

Sun Jan 14 23:51:58 EST 2024

From: L. Michael Hall 

2024 Neurons #3

January, 16, 2024

Emotional Intelligence Series #3

WHAT ARE EMOTIONS ANYWAY?

Part I

With something as fundamental and basic as emotions, you might think that
defining an emotion would be no problem.  Yet that is not the case.  Part of
the reason for that is due to the fact that there are several component
elements within an emotion.  Yet you would not know that when you are
experiencing an emotion.  When you are relaxed or stressed, when you are sad
or joyful, when you are loving or indifferent, when you are disgusted or
attracted, etc., experiencing the emotion seems to be a single and whole
thing.  It sems that way, yet it is not.

1) "Emotion" as Movement.  Before getting to that, let's look at the term
itself: emotion.  Obvious within an emotion there is motion- that is,
movement.  Something is moving somewhere, in some direction.  Now inasmuch
as the word was originally spelled ex-motion, the idea of an emotion is that
its motion is moving you out (ex-) from wherever you are.  Accordingly, a
medical definition of an emotion is that it has within it "an action
tendency."

As this gives us our first picture of an emotion, it also distinguishes
emotions that move us out to embrace and connect with the world and then the
emotions that move us to hold back from the world.  The metaphor which I
like to use regarding this is that of the brakes and accelerator in a car.
Some emotions are like the brakes-when you experience them, they hold you
back from something threatening or dangerous.  They enable you to slow down,
think, consider, and decide on a course of action.  Fear is like that,
tension is like that, so is sadness, disgust, fatigue, etc.  other emotions
operate like the accelerator-when you experience them you want to move
forward.  Joy is like that, so is love, excitement, curiosity, etc.

2) Emotions as Nerve Impulses.  Interesting enough, our neurology has a
similar dynamic.  We have inhibitory nerve impulses and we have excitatory
nerve impulses.  When the inhibitory impulses occur, we experience
"negative" emotions.  So we tense up, we restrain ourselves, we slow down,
we may stop breathing, etc.  It's as if we have put the brakes on ourselves
so that in our journey in life, we operate in a more careful, mindful way.
When the excitatory impulses occur, we experience "positive" emotions.  We
breath more fully, muscles relax and/or are activated to engage in some
activity.  It's as if we have put the pedal to the metal and we're ready to
cruise down the highway of life.

3) Emotions as distinction from Feelings.  Inside of these positive and
negative emotions are two primary elements: kinesthetic sensations and
thoughts.  Technically, this is the difference between feelings and
emotions.  Within every emotion are feelings-kinesthetic sensations.  But
you can experience any and all of your kinesthetics apart from it being an
emotion.  Take any emotion and we can ask, "What are the kinesthetic
sensations of that emotion?"  It may be cool or warm, calm or agitated,
tension in the body in one or more muscle groups or relaxed, etc.  "What are
you experiencing in your body?"

           What are the kinesthetic sensations when you are afraid?  What
happens to your breathing, muscle tension, face, neck, hands, stomach, etc.?

           Similarly with anger-what are the feelings within your body?
And sadness?  Excitement?  Fatigue?

With the feeling side of an emotion, we look at your diet, what you've been
eating; your sleeping habits, your health and/or illness; your blood
pressure, and on and on.  Since your body is the place where your
kinesthetic sensations occurs-how you take care of your body (or don't take
good care of it)-will strongly influence your feelings and how they play a
significant role in your emotional well-being.

4) Emotions as cognitively based.  That's the feeling side of an emotion,
for the thought side, we have to ask, "What are you thinking?  What are you
aware of?  Remembering? Imagining? Anticipating? Intending?"  That's
because, "as you think, so you are" ... "so you feel."  Together, your
thinking-emoting is one system and whenever we speak about these elements as
if they are independent factors, we are dichotomizing and polarizing.  That,
in turn, creates a false-to-fact understanding of emotions.

5) Emotions as relative to Map and Territory.  Now while we have a good
beginning in understanding an emotion, it is just the beginning.  There's
much more.  In understanding an emotion, we need to include in our
definition that every emotion is relative.   It is relative to two
phenomena- first, the mental map that a person is operating from and the
territory that one is trying to navigate.  Imagine a scale.  On one side of
the scale there is the mind-and all of the mental thinking, understanding,
believing, expecting, intending, etc.  On the other side of the scale is the
territory-the experiential area of life that a person is dealing
with-people, work, hobbies, career, communication, conflict, sports, etc.

The emotion you feel at any given moment in time depends on the relationship
between your mental map about things and your experience of those things.
If you are driving in New York City and your map was develop in a country
town of 2,000 people, you may be in for a shock!  You may emotionally feel
stress, anger, and fear at the same time!  What's wrong?  Your map is not
sufficient for that territory.  If you have a map of driving in Cairo Egypt
and you are in a tiny village in Maine, you may emotionally feel joy,
delight, playful, and on top of the world.  Why?  Your map is more than able
to effectively handle that territory. 

6) Emotions as Interpretations.  Because of the cognitive component in every
emotion, your emotions are functions of your interpretations.  That is, how
you interpret an experience will determine the emotion you experience.  It
is in this way that we can say that you are the creator of your emotions.
After all, it is something you do-you emote.  And that's why reframing
works, when you change the meaning frame about something, your emotional
experience of it changes. 

Back to our question, "What are emotions?"  They are dynamic processes
within us creating movement, information, and energy-and they are the very
feel of life.  More next time.

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, ISNS

738 Beaver Lodge

Grand Jct., CO. 81505 USA

meta at acsol.net

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