How are you? You say youre okay?
Arent you angry? Or maybe youre frustrated? Annoyed? Disappointed? Agitated? Furious?
Or perhaps, youre happy. Yes, you can be happy, or then again, you can be contented, joyful, surprised, grateful, cheerful, elated or ecstatic.
It is amazing how many types of emotions people can feel. If we are to come up with a list of emotions, Im sure youd end up with a great many adjectives.
There have been several attempts to identify the types of emotions. Among the scholars who gave some thought to a list of emotions include Robert Plutchik who identified eight basic emotions (fear, anger, sadness, joy, disgust, trust, anticipation and surprise), as well as Aristotle who noted anger, friendship, fear, shame, kindness, pity, indignation, envy and love. They both laid out a pretty good concept about different types of emotions and what they mean, but what really matters now is understanding your own emotions and how they affect your life.
Emotions have a huge impact on people.
Emotions are the reasons why people often find themselves in situations where they wish they can take back what they said or what they did. Remember that time when you were really overcome by your emotions and failed to hold your tongue during a heated argument with someone?
Emotions are why people often resort to impulse buying. Remember that item you bought which you dont really need? All because you felt that you were having a satisfying bargain and since you felt sad at that time, you need to cheer yourself up.
In other words, emotions are the reasons why people want to be in control of their feelings, and not be dominated by them. What are your most common emotions and how do you handle them? How do you react to situations? Can you easily show your emotions? Can you fully describe your emotions?
It helps to develop the habit of thinking and self-reflection when it comes to how you feel. This is one way to manage your own emotions and understand yourself better. Just like Plutchik and Aristotle, you can come up with your emotions list and see how they make an impact in your life. Find out what decisions you likely make based on your emotions. Find out what emotions youre more likely to feel when you are with certain people individuals. Wont that make put you at an advantage when it comes to controlling how you feel? Youd decide which circumstances and which people to be with to enable yourself to display a certain feeling.
There is much to learn about knowing how you feel. The exercise of increasing your awareness about your emotions will help you become a more balanced individual. Besides, youll have a more interesting answer than okay the next time someone asks you about how you feel.
