How Do Our Emotions Affect Our Peace Of Mind
Posted: Thursday, August 09, 2007
by Susan Thom
The Thesaurus describes emotion as spirit, heart, and soul. The five primal emotions are love, happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. So then, how does love, happiness, anger, sadness and fear, affect our spirit, heart, and soul? If our primal emotions are attended to, will our spirit, heart, and soul be happy? If we are happy, not angry, not sad, and not in fear, can we feel whole?
Some emotions cause us to feel bad; agitation, alarm, anger, angst, annoyance, apprehension, apathy, bitterness, boredom, depression, disappointment, discontentment, disgust, envy, fear, frustration, grief, guilt, hate, horror, jealousy, loneliness, melancholy, nervousness, negativity, pain, phobia, pity, rage, regret, remorse, resentment, sadness, self-pity, shame, sorrow, shock, suffering, unhappiness, vulnerability, and yearning.
What emotions do we feel the most? Are they on the positive side or the negative side? The question then becomes, how do we change the negative emotions to positive? Can we go to therapy, read self help books, and work on the little things that shouldn't agitate us? Does every red light or slow driver have to be an annoyance? Can we develop our strength of purpose so as not to be apprehensive all the time? What can we do to lift the scars we hold within, and get rid of our bitterness? Shouldn't we seek professional help in the quest to alleviate our depression? Can we find strength from within so we don't get so easily disappointment?
Would it not be helpful to make a list of what causes us discontentment, and work on that list? Why must we be disgusted while on this beautiful Earth? There are many reasons, but we don't have to let them affect our lives on a daily basis. Envy comes from low self esteem, and if this emotion is explored and healed, the envy will go away. The neighbor next door with all the pretty flowers won't be a terrible person, just someone who has beautiful flowers. Fear is all encompassing, and unfortunately, it takes a lot of self help to overcome it. However, considering the restrictions it can put on one's life, it should be dealt with. Frustration is a hard one. There needs to be peace in our souls before we can be calm enough to let go of frustration. A bottle of ketchup fell out of the fridge and squirted all over the kitchen. Frustrating, but I've learned the best thing to do in a situation like this, is get the paper towels, and just start cleaning.
Grief is just one of those emotions you have to go through. It's not one of the feelings you have a choice over. You do, however, have a choice how to deal with it. Guilt is a debilitating emotion that can bring you down like a ton of bricks. We do what we know how to do, and when we know better, we do better. that saying has helped me probably more than any other. Hate drains us of all our energy, and accomplishes nothing. Horror is a sad way to feel, and can cause both psychological and physical problems. If our bodies are out of balance, and our resolve isn't strong, horror can rule our lives. Jealousy is simply low self esteem, and no self confidence. It's a hard emotion to keep under wraps. I am self confident, but I still feel a twinge when my partner is talking to a woman in a store, although, it's just a fleeting feeling, since I know our bond is strong.
Loneliness is something we can only do so much about, as an example, my aunt lost her husband ten years ago, and was so lonely she didn't know how to cope. She moved to a retirement complex, met some really nice people, started volunteering at a hospital, and now has a full life. At night, when the loneliness hits the most, she has just enough energy to take care of her dogs, feed herself, watch a little TV, and she's out like a light.
Negativity can drown out all the good the world has to offer. Always seeing the glass half empty simply hurts your soul, and drains your energy. Pain is like grief, it needs to be gone through in a healthy way. Pity can be one thing if it's over a homeless person with no legs, but it's not a healing emotion when it's pity for yourself. There may be a little laziness involved with that emotion. Rage is just uncalled for in any situation. It doesn't change anything, nor does it help any problem, however, if someone hurt one of my kids, I'd have to be uncalled for!
Regret does nothing for us. Again, we do what we know how to do, and when we know better, we do better. Remorse is fine in itself, but it doesn't take away whatever caused the emotion. Instead of being remorseful, try to do something to change the situation into a more positive end. Resentment can eat up your soul and leave you empty and barren. It does nothing to the other person, it only weakens your heart, mind, and body.
Sadness just can't be helped at times, and needs to be worked through. Shame can eat you alive if you let it. We all can change, and better our lives, and how we act, and heal the shame we have inside of us. Vulnerability should be strengthened so we don't get taken advantage of, and yearning is good if it gives us the hope to move on to better ways of thinking and acting, and therefore, feeling.
The happy emotions we possess are free, and can be enjoyed if we allow ourselves to enjoy life. Acceptance is hard, and beneficial to our own welfare. If we can learn to accept people and situations that happen in our lives, we will be so much more at ease. Calmness comes from acceptance. Once we accept that we broke our antique lamp that can't be fixed or replaced, we can rid ourselves of the negative emotions that go with it. Comfort is so very important, especially, to me.
At the end of the day, I want a haven for myself in my bedroom. I have two down featherbeds, and a down comforter, and down pillows, and nice pictures on my wall, and knick knacks that mean something to me. This is where I rejuvenate from the day, and prepare for the next, so I want it to be as comfortable as possible.
Confidence is either instilled through childhood, or learned on our own, or not experienced by some. It's very important to have confidence in yourself, and what you can accomplish, otherwise, you will accomplish nothing. Courage is acquired through occurrence, and I believe, gets stronger and stronger as we go through life and deal with what life hands us.
Desire is what makes us get up in the morning, and take a shower, get dressed, have breakfast, and do whatever it is we are involved in. It is a motivator, and a strong emotion. It's always nice to be delighted over a gift someone may give you, or a new car, or a new dress. Delight is a happy emotion, and gives us positive energy to push us forward through this life.
Friendship is essential as far as I'm concerned. We all need someone we can confide in and do things with. Gratitude generally is forgotten when things are going well, but we need to remember who is calling the shots, and thank Him for our good graces. Without honor, we have nothing, no one will believe us, help us, lend us anything, or have much to do with us. Honor also gives us stability in our self esteem, and makes us proud of ourselves. Hope is the strongest emotion of all, in my mind. Without hope, there is no desire to move through this life in the best way we can.
Humility is paramount to us keeping ourselves in check. Whatever we do, we should do from the heart, not as a way of getting recognition. If we focus on all these emotions, we should feel pride in ourselves. These feelings and emotions were created by a Higher Power, and I think it's up to us to learn how to utilize them to the best of our ability. Then, and only then, will we find peace of mind.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Very good article Susan, packed with alot of wisdom.Please log in to respond to this comment.
thank you David, i appreciate you reading my articles, and responding. and that's just not a response, it's the truth. this is a difficult time. writing helps. reaching out helps, and hearing responses from readers helps. this too, shall pass, but in the meantime, i can involve myself in what i love to do-write. best regards, sue thomPlease log in to respond to this comment.
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