Listening to Your Authentic Self: The Purpose of Emotions

Answering the BIG Questions In our digital age, we are becoming more and more reliant on reinforcement from the outside to tell us how we "should" feel and what we "should" need and care about. Don't know which product to choose? A quick Google search will give you expert reviews and opinions. Not sure about a guy you like, a short text to your friends can get you a consensus. But you simply cannot find the answer to the BIG questions, like "What is my purpose?" and "What is important to me?" from the outside. Only our internal experience and our emotions can truly guide us towards the answers to the big questions. But emotions get a bad wrap! We all know we have them. Yet, somehow, us humans get caught in a struggle to control or get rid of them. Emotions are like the unwanted party guest whom we find every possible means of avoiding. Humans naturally and automatically move towards what feels good, and away from what feels bad, including emotions. Okay, seems like a normal thing to do. Who wants to difficult emotions like sadness, embarrassment, anger or anxiety? The problem emerges when we get so good at avoiding our emotions, we loose the access to the important function they serve. The fact is our emotions serve an essential function in connecting us to what is truly important. Evolutionary theorists believe the full mind-body response of our emotions was a way for our ancestors to ensure their safety, get their needs met from others in the group, and provide our ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news