Emotions are an essential part of survival and help in living a connected life. Anger, fear, sadness, excitement, and disgust are the core emotions that help you understand, connect, and communicate with others. These emotions serve a purpose and are your brain’s way of letting you know whether things are going well or not.
To understand what are emotions, it is important to know about the parts or elements of emotion. How emotions are felt and reacted are different for each individual. There are three parts to an emotion-
1. The Subjective Experience (How You Experience the Emotion)
The experience of an emotion is unique to each individual. For example, anger might range from mild annoyance to rage. Also, sometimes a person experiences mixed emotions over situations. These emotions can coincide or can be felt one after another.
2. The Physiological Response (How Your Body Reacts to the Emotions)
Your body’s responses govern emotions. As you interact with the environment, there are physiological reactions that arise in the whole body. For example, if you are confronted in a dangerous situation, you are most likely to fear, causing your heart to race and your palms to sweat.
3. The Behavioral Response (How You Behave in Response to the Emotion)
The actual expression of the emotion is the behavioral response. Different emotions make you act in different ways. These responses include a smile, a laugh, sadness, etc., depending on the social environment and personality of the individual. Expressing behavioral responses is essential for overall health rather than holding on to those responses inside. However, negative emotions can be expressed healthily.
Knowing what are emotions helps take steps to control feelings and actions. There are many actions you may take that can help you positively deal with your feelings.
4. Distraction
If your emotions are too strong, distraction can work to deal with your emotion. Watch TV, read a book, or do any other activities you like which will help you divert your attention from your thoughts.
5. Practice Acceptance
Accepting what is happening and things that are beyond control will make you feel better. Notice the good things in life and count your blessings, and you will find feeling negative emotions less frequently.
6. Share Your Feelings with Someone Close
Talking about your emotions with someone else can help offset negativity. Express yourself openly to let go of all the negative emotions. Sharing time with friends is also a great way to relax your mind freeing it from difficult emotions.
7. Exercise
Release your emotions by exercising, which is a great way to manage your emotions. Exercise lowers the level of stress chemicals and allows you to cope better with emotions.
8. Meditation
Meditation is about calming the mind and is a great way to cope with complicated emotions. By practicing meditation, your mind focuses on improving positive emotions while decreasing negativity.
9. Keep a Journal
Writing down your feelings is a helpful way to process challenging emotions. Write about the situation that made you feel the emotion and how long it lasted. Recognize the common causes of your difficult emotions and determine how you can respond in a better way.
Making changes in your life can go a long way in dealing with emotions. Try any of the above strategies if you are struggling with difficult emotions.