Let's talk emotions

Do you feel sad? Angry? Happy? The list of emotions are endless. I am blessed to be surrounded by people I can learn from everyday. I learnt about emotions recently.

Psychology defines emotion as a complex state of feeling that results in physical and psychological changes that influence thought and and behaviour.

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines emotion as a conscious mental reaction (such as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioural changes in the body.

Basically, emotions are our feelings at a particular point in time. Some emotions occur briefly like a feeling of embarrassment. We also have other emotions like joy, anger, happiness, surprise, fear, disgust etc. The list is endless.

It is through our emotions that we can express or understand how we feel at a particular point in time. Emotions are very real and we can't help the way we feel but we can control the way we react to the way we feel.

There's a few points I learnt about emotions and I want to share.

• Emotions are real but not who you are

Let's say you failed an exam, you did poorly in a job interview, or a love affair went wrong. At that moment, you might say to yourself that you're a failure, stupid or even call yourself a fool. You're just acting out based on how you feel at that moment. You're not any of those things you're saying to yourself.

• Emotions are real but not final

The thing with emotions is that they can change at any point in time. Let's consider people in a relationship. Say your partner annoys you or frustrates you, you might feel you don't love them anymore because of what happened but it's just a temporary feeling and you don't actually mean it. Overtime, you'll come to realize it was just something you felt at that moment because you still love them.

• Emotions are real but not always right

Yes, a perfect example is saying you're in love with a married man or woman. Yes, you might love them but what you're feeling is not right because this person is already married to someone else. In essence, you what something that isn't yours and you can't have them. So, that feeling isn't right.

• Are real so let them propell you

It's high time we all developed a positive attitude towards things. Emotions are like a driving force, they get you to where you're going. If you give a positive mindset to your job or whatever it is you want to do, you'll be amazed at how much you accomplish. On the other hand, if you always have negative thoughts and are always feeling lazy towards matters, you won't go far. So channel your emotions to do something good for you.