7 Emotions That Can't Be Explained in English

Image source: Pixabay.com. CC0 Public Domain license. By Erika Wittlieb. Occasionally, emotions that we can't identify well up within us, causing us to experience confusion over how to react. In an article in the January/February 2016 issue of Psychology Today, Mark R. Leary, Duke University professor of psychology and neuroscience, explains this phenomenon. He writes Emotions have motivational consequences. They tell us what to do. If you can't tell what you're feeling, then it's a lot more puzzling to know how you should react: I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I don't know whether to approach you or avoid you. Thankfully, there are a handful of words from around the world that we English-speakers can adopt to ease our bewilderment. 1. Memento mori A Latin phrase meaning "to remember [that you have] to die," memento mori manifests itself as the dawning acceptance that, in the grand scheme of things, your life is a blip. The victories, the defeats, the anger and stress, the happiness and relaxation -- all of it is a blink in the history of time. 2. Vardøgr From Norwegian, vardøgr is a "premonitory sound or sight of a person before he or she arrives." The closest English equivalent is premonition, although that relates more to events rather than sight or sound. 3. Schadenfreude Likely the most recognizable on this list, schadenfreude is the German word for deriving pleasure from someone else's pain or misfortune. You may find yourself experiencing schadenf...

Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - March 31, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news