Feeling and Emotions By Linda Stowe
Lately I have been hearing people refer to their “feels.” As in, “You’ve got me all up in my feels.” Apparently, this is a slang term for emotion or feelings.
As it happens I have been thinking about emotions lately. It started a few Wordles ago when I did a little research on the difference between feelings and emotions. We use the terms interchangeably but I wanted to learn more because two words cannot mean exactly the same thing. There are always shades of difference.
According to Bard there is a difference between emotions and feelings. In broad strokes, emotions (fear and anger for example) are primal. They are an automatic physical reaction to an external cause. We see the bull heading for us and our brain sends a message to a gland, which will in term release adrenaline or some other chemical that will cause things to happen in our body. (It’s a real Rube Goldberg operation going on in there.) Anyway, emotions occur automatically, without our conscious involvement.
Feelings on the other hand are conscious. We think, “How do I feel about that bull heading my way?” Maybe he just wants to play and in that case I’m happy. Or maybe I’m busy and don’t have time to play, so in that case I’m annoyed. Or maybe I’ve never seen a bull before, so I’m curious. Or maybe I know this bull does not like me, so I feel fear. Lots of options but everything happens very fast.
Most times our feelings match our emotions, such as feeling fear at the sight of a charging bull. But sometimes they don’t, such as our initial reaction when we walk into a darkened room and the lights flash on and our friends jump up and shout Happy Birthday! In most cases the initial reaction will not be happiness.
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Polly here.
This made me feel curious and delighted at the same time. I hadn’t thought about this before, the differences and similarities between feelings and emotions.
We are all full of these things. Each and every day. All day.
I have been given so many good things in my life, and for that, I should always feel grateful. One would think there would be an ongoing state of happiness because of this. Yet, sometimes, the unknown forces get hold of me and I feel sad, or mad, or anxious.
Most of this has to do with the external influences that surround us at any given moment. It is natural for us to feel those things. Or know those emotions. Whichever the case may be. And whatever they may be.
May we always accept our feelings and emotions, even if they are weighted on the downside. At the same time, may we always remember all the good fortunes we have, in any minute, in all our lives.
