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Yesterday we spoke about the emotion, happiness, as it connects to and does not connect to spirituality. Traditional western religions squirm or more, disagree when they hear this. Everything is spiritual in their school of thought. However, as our understanding of where emotions and behaviors come from, we have happily disentangled ourselves from the stigma and judgment that comes from the way many people have (mostly unwittingly and often without intended malice) abused us with mental illness.
I know that I have also been in this crowd of prejudiced. Coming out of that has been fun. There is still so much that I think I see clearly but don’t, as it is for us all. The growth we’re talking about is part of the high adventure that brings pleasure to life.
To say it plainly:
- Emotions come from the brain.
- Emotions are not always directly chosen as we can’t directly choose the way our brain works.
- Emotions are what we use to interpret the world around us.
- Emotions don’t have intrinsic moral value. Morality is bigger than the way we feel.
- Emotions are not constant between us.
- Emotions are a sense. We’ve called them the Sixth Sense. Senses are subjective and not objective.
How does this fit into your biopsychosocial model of how you see yourself?
Biology. Psychology. Socially.
How does it influence the way you befriend yourself?
How might this influence stigma surrounding emotional illness?
Emotions are just one of the many things that make us who we are. Many many things. As we tease these bits of ourselves apart, it is not the same as denying the multi-paradigm weave that makes us who we are.
Self-Care Tip – Enjoy your emotions but don’t put your life on them.
Related articles
- Finalé – Me Again. Everything Starts and Ends With Me – Even Emotions and Behaviors. (friendtoyourself.com)
- Me! Where Emotions and Behaviors Come From (friendtoyourself.com)
- Misrepresentation Of Self-Care Will Inevitably Be Part of Our Truth (friendtoyourself.com)
- Our Conscious Self is Our Board and Paddle at Sea (friendtoyourself.com)
- The Biopsychosocial Model for Where Emotions and Behaviors Come From (friendtoyourself.com)
- where to lay the blame? (misdirectedcognition.wordpress.com)
They are so darn difficult to figure out! They can make us do one thing one day and something entirely different the next. My logical brain has difficulty coping with that.
hey jacqui! great to hear from u. just when we start talking about this stuff though?
… but how can logic not cope? let us know what comes to the surface over time. keep on.
When I was still having serious emotional problems, my sister called and said that she now understood WHY, in our dysfunctional family, I was the one of the three of us who had had an emotional breakdown. I’m an artist! Of course I’d be the one. ALL great artists have emotional problems of some sort.
I think she was trying to make me feel better. To tell the truth, maybe she did, a little. However, when I read this post, the artist I was most reminded of was Van Gogh. I adore his story. I’m fascinated by his art work, his writing and his spiritual journey. I think he would agree with your list, Sana, as we all should. I wish he’d known, and his doctors had known, what we and our doctors know now about mental illness and the damage stigma and misunderstanding can do to those of us who suffer with this illness. We would, undoubtedly, have been blessed with much more of his work, and his family would have been blessed with more time with him and with his brother, who died of a broken heart a year after he did. (Talk about happiness and spirituality being related and separate!!)
Thanks for continuing on with this idea of happiness and spirituality. It’s a good one!
good one nance. love this comment and stories upon story. thank u especially for the direct feedback. u r speaking to me!
Thanks for summarizing so neatly, and referencing to sixth sense.
Biology tells us emotions come from the the brain. Psychology and socially are learned interpretations of this emotions. When this interpretations go array is when we discover brain illnesses and rely on doctors and drugs to help us find our way back to normal. Marie.
u make my writing all the more important just because u shared it w me. thanks for breaking it down w the biopsychosocial.
I think #2 is profoundly significant for people suffering and people ridiculing those that are suffering to more fully understand. The malfunction of chemical and electrical interaction are matters over which we are powerless and meds bring the processes into more optimum function to give is balance(the word “normal” is to be avoided. “More OK” is better). This is why a paradigm of talk therapy and pill therapy can be so effective as one without the other may not be effective for some.
thank u carl. u know how to “speak it!” what do u think about our culture viewing emotions and behaviors coming from somewhere else than the brain?
If not from the brain where else? On the other hand some people are so foolish and inconsiderate the source may be their feet or from another part of the human anatomy I care not to reference. My silly sarcasm aside, there are certain cultural ethos that manipulate or dictate how we MUST feel or DEMAND how we feel despite our brain function or individual personality. These cultural shackles may override how our emotions would be otherwise expressed. The fight or flee paradigm is programed as are certain other reactions. They seem to be biologically imprinted as a characteristic of the human species and perhaps override individuality in emotional expression. Then there is the matter of spirituality which is another dimension independent of biological function and empirical certification or assessment. So there are cultural, spiritual, and inherited foundations as sources outside the brain that influence our emotions. Certainly the brain still processes all three but they do not originate there.
nice carl. well said and i appreciate it. the wheels are turning, or as my dad jokes, the marbles (1 or 2 of them) are rolling around.
Yes, I think stigma has been easier to bear in the knowledge that emotions are from the brain and are chemically controlled.
I think stigma comes from fear of not knowing what controls our emotions and our brains. As people become better educated about mental illness the stigma gets less but there is a long way to go.
thank u clar! i agree w u. can u give us some examples, if u feel up to it?