The Root of Emotion

Emotions are funny little creatures that seem to contain a life of their own. I've always wondered where they come from and why a certain emotion will pop up sometimes when it's an inappropriate time. And I've always had a difficult time determining what the roots of emotions are.

How is it that some people have such great control over their emotions and others simply cannot do it. What is it that makes one person cry and another one laugh when faced with the same situation? But perhaps the most awkward scenario for me to understand are those people who are either filled with emotion or totally lack it altogether.

The emotion-filled person shows all their feelings, happy or sad, laughing and crying, angry or grateful. To me they are free spirits that have some unknown key to the universe. The emotion-free person, on the other hand, expresses nothing, seems to feel nothing, and tends to make others uncomfortable in their presence. It's as though emotionless equals lifelessness.

I think perhaps the worst disservice to the world in general is that somewhere, once upon a time, someone found it necessary to label feelings as good or bad. Cheerful is good, but never be angry. That's bad. Grateful is good. But for the love of God, don't let anyone ever know you're disappointed. That's selfish.

One of the greatest pearls of wisdom I ever heard was that 'feelings are feelings; feelings aren't facts.' I may feel angry but that does not necessarily make me an angry person. Feelings come and go. They drift in and out just like our thoughts. In fact, our thoughts control who we are and what we do. And besides, feelings never hurt anyone. It's the behaviours attached to feelings that hurt others. "Oh I couldn't help it. I was angry." Such hogwash!

It still doesn't answer the original question above: Where do the emotions come from to begin with?

I believe that all emotions arise from the soul's desire to protect itself. It's the installed human version of an early warning detection system complete with radar of its own. It is programmed for survival above all else, and so it sends out 'signals' to the brain in the form of emotions to trigger a response from the host to either take action or remain as is until there is further information. They have the same function as the heat sensors in our skin. They prevent us from 'burning' or 'freezing' our emotional life.

When the soul, inner being, subconscious, the heart (call it what you will) is content, the natural flow of emotion is happiness, contentment, gratitude, caring, giving, loving. But when it feels as though it is in danger or threatened somehow, the flow is sidetracked and meanders to places it really doesn't want to be and spawns confusion, anger, hurt, betrayal and pain. When the heart can right itself and become calm, the rhythm slides back into a natural energy flow and for the time being is once again happy.

I'm sure there are 'professionals' who would laugh, perhaps sneer, at my simplistic view of life and emotion. But I've done it their way and I can say with absolute certainty that it doesn't really matter what happened a half century ago. It doesn't matter who did what or why. What matters is how I handle it. All the analyzing in the world didn't bring me peace. It didn't give me the power to ground myself, to center with my own being.

In their eyes I was broken. I needed to be fixed. I wasn't allowed to just be. I was given pablum treatment, but was told to submit to their ideas as if I was incapable of having an idea of my own.

There was nothing wrong with me that meeting myself on honest and equal ground didn't fix. The answer lay within me every step of the way. I just didn't know how to access it. I didn't learn right and wrong from my parents. I was born knowing it. I was perfect... and still am even in my imperfection.

The world has its way with you whether you like it or not. It can tarnish you or it can strengthen you. The choice is yours. It always has been. But if you listen within... really listen... you can find your way out of the darkest corners and enter a place filled with light and good, happiness and peace.

The heart is the seat of all wisdom. Be attentive to it. Listen well. Heed its warnings. You, too, can come to know a new freedom and a new happiness. Be still and know it is possible. Then venture forth into your new life filled with infinite possibilities.

Godspeed...