What they tell us and why they are important.
Our emotions play a major role in our lives. They help us to understand the world around us and decide how we react to certain situations.
There are six basic emotions that everyone knows: joy, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise. These feelings have important functions and show us what is going on inside us. You may be familiar with the Disney movie “Everything is upside down”, which has become famous among therapists. It shows the interplay of emotions in a particularly vivid way. Maybe you’d like to watch it sometime, I really recommend it 🙂
Sometimes, especially in phases of life with crises after difficult experiences or in extreme cases after so-called traumas, our feelings and their interplay can also get mixed up. This means that we either feel them very strongly or barely notice them. It is important to understand what each feeling means and how it can help us to deal with difficult situations better.
The six basic emotions and their functions
Similar to a color wheel, the basic feelings form the basic framework. All our emotional shades are mixed from them, so to speak. They are the ingredients of our emotional world 🙂
1. joy
Joy is the feeling that literally makes us happy. It shows us what is good for us and what we enjoy doing. When we feel joy, it is a sign that we are on the right path and that something good is happening in our lives. Related feelings: satisfaction, relief, pride, gratitude, curiosity, euphoria, ecstasy, a feeling of flow and much more. Last but not least, especially at the beginning of a relationship: infatuation 🙂 and in the course of love.
2. sadness
Sadness helps us to process losses. When we are sad, it shows that we are missing something that felt positive or someone (e.g. a person). Sadness gives us the opportunity to pause, reflect and say goodbye to things that are no longer there. Sadness should be processed in order to be able to say goodbye to it and take up life again. Related feelings: powerlessness, disappointment, loneliness, guilt, despair, nostalgia
3. fear
Fear is a protective feeling. It warns us of danger and helps us to be careful. Anxiety symptoms are often experienced as very intense, but are not dangerous even on a large scale. Many people who often experience anxiety also develop a so-called fear of anxiety. Sometimes anxiety is felt very intensely, especially if we have had traumatic experiences. In these cases, our body reacts as if there is an overwhelming danger, even though we are actually safe. Related feelings: apprehension, panic, insecurity, shame.
4. anger
Anger arises when we feel we have been treated unfairly or when something hurts us. It is a sure sign of a boundary violation and gives us the energy to defend ourselves or stand up for something that is important to us. If you often feel angry, you can deal with your social relationships and your own behavior or needs. Anger should not be pent up, but channeled. Related feelings: frustration, irritation, indignation, hatred
5. disgust
Disgust protects us from things that could harm us, such as spoiled food or dangerous situations. It helps us to stay healthy and keep us away from things that could harm us. However, disgust is also a strongly learned emotion that can be acquired. (e.g. aversion to spiders is often passed on from parents to children). This means that disgust also has a social component when certain groups avoid certain things. Related feelings: aversion, contempt, discomfort, disgust.
6. shame
Shame can tell us that we have done something wrong in a social context, for example that we have broken social rules. It also manifests itself when we think that other people might judge our own behavior or appearance negatively. It often leads to a desire to withdraw and hide. Related feelings: Embarrassment, embarrassment, guilt, self-doubt, humiliation, insecurity
Emotions and traumatization
After a traumatic experience, our emotions can become very confused. People who are traumatized experience often experience intense fear, anger or sadness. Sometimes they feel numb and hardly notice what is going on inside them. These reactions are normal, but it is important to find a way to deal safely with your feelings again. We will deal with the topic of traumatization in another article.
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All the best from your PaarGespräch team
