Emotions

We all at some point in our lives felt extreme happiness, where the world is full of all wonders and then we all have felt the jealousy in our hearts and anger. All of this has been termed as emotions in psychology which has been defined as a complex reaction pattern which involves something that we experience, how we behave and react.

A major part of our lives, our family, our relationship with self, all of this is governed by the emotions in our heart, hence it is very important in our day to day life how deal with emotions etc. First and foremost, it is a mental state which changes from time to time, next the human behavior is oriented in the direction of human emotions. Emotions make the root of our life, it is here with emotions that one is happy and the other is sad.

Emotions have two other aspects, there happens to be a feeling aspect of emotion and the mood which is a prolonged emotional state one experiences.

Functions of emotions are divided in three major parts or aspects: intrapersonal, interpersonal and the social as well as cultural aspect. The intrapersonal aspect includes ones relation with self, how one sees oneself, one’s dreams and goals etc. The interpersonal aspect includes the relationship we share with our close family members and friends whereas the social aspect includes how we act and work in society.

Emotions also controls other aspects of our day to day lives such as arousal, it affects how we perceive about things and finally how we behave, it also regulates attention and is also the major motivation to communicate in the human arena.

Evolutionary aspect of emotion was first emphasized by Darwin who articulated the fact that emotions have an evolutionary aspect and hence are similar throughout the world, psychologist Paul Ekman expounded the same theory by conducting cross cultural study on emotions in 6 different nations, the study concluded that emotions are common through all the cultures, and these included the six basic emotions- fear, anger, joy, sadness, contempt, disgust. The experiment included pictures of people, whom the respondents were to identify the emotions, most of the respondents were easily able to guess the emotion from the face shown in picture.

Emotions on the surface are just emotions but down the lane we realize that emotions do have a varied aspect that affects us in our daily lives, there are three marked or major aspects of emotions which is taken into consideration when we consider emotions, these include the physiological aspect, the behavioral aspect and the subjective aspect of emotions.

Physiological aspect of emotions include the reaction of the body in response to the emotions that are felt. Once emotions are felt the state of arousal kicks in which is initiated by the sympathetic nervous system, the major changes in the state in include increase in heart rate, breathing, blood pressure etc.

Also during this time amygdala and hippocampus is highly active as amygdala is the portion of brain that helps us in experiencing emotion and it is hippocampus that helps in creating memory at that particular given time. Also it is the left hemisphere which is mostly active when we experience negative emotions.

Behavioral aspect of emotions include how we actually react to the emotion that we face. It includes the physical reaction and the facial reaction that one may show during this time. Physical reactions includes crying, yelling, kissing or laughing. Facial reaction will include the faces that one may make up during this time.

Another aspect of emotion is its subjective aspect, this includes interpreting the feeling associated with emotions and the context associated with it, and the context may include the past happening or maybe in the past the person may have reacted in the same manner in a similar situation or the person may have future plans and may respond accordingly.

Now comes the most important and intense part of emotions and it is the fact that emotions can be grouped in two important parts or types, which include positive emotions and negative emotions. Positive emotions make us happy, contended, satisfied, fulfilled and great in all ways.

It is great to have a happy time with family or to meet the love of your life, but that is not the only reality we have to tackle we have negative emotions too that come up and it is almost every time seen that negative emotions drag the peaceful heart to a state of dismay and sadness.

Hence, all in all negative emotions does pose a threat to our happy existence and their negative effects deal with negative emotions for sure can’t be counted, in the short run, negative emotions are a mood spoiler and in the long run these are dangerous and harmful. Hence it becomes absolutely important to properly deal with negative emotions and to manage it on a day to day basis.

A huge number of ways have been in place in order to deal with negative emotions. The first being very mindful of the thoughts that come in the brain and additionally removing them so that these emotions do not create havoc in mind.

In case a lot of negativity does get collected, talking to friends and family members surely helps with dealing with negative emotions. Meditating on a regular basis also helps in coping with the negative emotions that surface and even helps in managing the awry state of mind. Working out has many benefits, one of the benefits include pumped up endorphins which naturally leads to positive mindset and outlook in the long run.

Along with this having a higher purpose in life will help direct the heart and mind towards it and the indulgence on the negative emotions will stop. Another thing is the fact that everyone can take control of their time and utilize it properly, no doubt it is said that an empty mind is a devil’s workshop, once you put in essential and important tasks the worries and useless thoughts disappear.

A good night’s sleep helps in managing emotions, mental as well as physical health too. Plus creating healthy relationships will also help in managing emotions. Positively focusing on oneself and on others will also help in dealing with negative emotions. A life filled with gratitude also helps.

This is how emotions have impacted us throughout our lives and will continue to do so for upcoming generations, All in all, a major fact is that emotions can be managed like other different aspects of our life. Try making your heart a better place for yourself.