BASIC PRINCIPLES OF EMOTION
Emotional self-awareness creates the foundation for self-confidence, healthy boundaries, creativity, and generally good emotional hygiene. Emotions are important signals. Therapy can help you get in touch with your emotional life, get it more organised, and get it working for you. Here are some basics:
- Emotions are bound to the body.
- Emotions are observable. This means that an emotion is not who you are, but rather an experience that you have.
- An emotion never lasts forever, it gives rise to the next one.
- Emotions are positive or negative (valence).
- Emotions are strong or soft (intensity).
- Emotional life can be rigid, balanced, or chaotic.
- We have conscious and subconscious emotions. They go subconscious when they are linked to unhealed trauma or when we believe they are not acceptable.
Emotions can be locked into the body with traumatic memories. They are released in the process of healing the associated trauma. Trauma treatment is recommended when you have a hard time staying present with your emotions, go numb, get out of balance, or dissociate. When a negative emotional experience is persistent beyond the basic practices, deeper healing work may be of value.
THE ANATOMY OF EMOTION
Emotion is Energy
Emotions are energy patterns. Each emotion has its own specific energy pattern, like archetypes. Anger, joy, shame, and gratitude all have a pattern of movement, have a unique effect, and they all feel different to experience.
The effect that these each energy pattern has on the body, minds, and actions is different as well. For example, the way that you breathe, think, behave breathe relative to a situation when you feel fear is different as compared to when you feel enthusiastic, guilty, or joyful.
Emotions have an energetic quality to them. The energy has an effect on your body, your mind, and your spirit. The basic polarity of emotion is that its energy can be vitalising (creation oriented) or depleting (destruction oriented).
The energy of each emotion has a corresponding physiology (energy) and mindset (consciousness). The energy of emotion is felt in the body as physical sensation. The body signals with neurotransmitters, hormones, and electrical impulses (coordinated physiological and neurological processes) which become the states that we call emotions. Prolonged states of gratitude can counter feelings of depression and anxiety, promote acts of generosity, and change the shape of the brain.
Shame is possibly the most painful emotional experience and often suppressed. Counseling or trauma treatment is often required to work out and heal shame. The energy of shame is very depressive, and sometimes can express as strong anger or reactivity to feeling criticised, judged, or rejected.
Intense fear can be immobilising or scattering (you can find yourself completely frozen or totally flustered), and is also often rooted in early life fears that the body still remembers. This is also often well suited to heal with a trained trauma therapist.
Anger is a natural reaction to a boundary violation. In anger the nervous system will activate the body into ‘fight or flight’ settings to take defensive action. Over time unresolved anger can cause increased inflammation in the body. This means that we must value our anger, but also learn how to process.
Unresolved anger is sometimes linked with boundary violations in childhood. We might forget the memory but still have anger in the body. It’s energy is useful as protection, but can cause problems when the anger is out of proportion. This is a strong sign of developmental trauma.
At the Freedom Healing Centre in Sydney, Brookvale, Rachel can help you to master the energy of your emotions with psychotherapy. Whether you are struggling with anger, shame, fear, anxiety or depression, therapy can put you back in the driver’s seat of your inner life.
The Scale of Emotion
Understanding that emotions represent certain states of being, will help you to travel them. You can think of emotions as notes on a musical scale.
Emotional experiences are relative to one another. For example if you feel guilty, then anger feels positive. If you feel joyful, anger will be experienced as negative relative to the joy.
The lower notes of the piano represent the lower frequency emotions, like shame, fear, and guilt. The higher notes on the scale represent the highest frequency emotions like love, trust, and gratitude.
These states can be actively transformed up the scale and down the scale. The emotion can feel negative (low notes) or positive (high notes). It can be intense (loudly played) or subtle (softly played). Rachel is a psychotherapist in Sydney who at the Freedom Healing Centre in Brookvale, can give you the tools and insight to work with your emotions therapeutically.
Rachel Anenberg, BA (Psyc), BSW, MSW (Master of Social Work) is a psychotherapist and spiritual coach providing integrative therapy. Her expertise as a psychotherapist come from a combined background and education in psychology, social work, and soul sciences.
Psychotherapy with Rachel can help you to heal depression, treat anxiety, recover from child abuse, adult abuse & narcissistic abuse. Genuine happiness is often out of reach because of unhealed past experiences. Psychotherapy can help you to get in control and feel naturally happy.
Disclaimer: All information obtained from Rachel Anenberg or anything written or said by her, is to be taken solely as advisory in nature. Rachel Anenberg and Freedom Healing Centre will not be held personally, legally, or financially liable for any action taken based upon their advice. The opinions expressed in this article are based on the research, studies, professional and personal experiences of the author.
The principles and techniques taught in this article are based on the personal and professional experience of the authour as a intuitive healer and psychotherapist, trained in Psychology (BA) and Social Work (MSW). Rachel Anenberg does not claim to be a doctor or provider of medical advice. The author is not a psychologist or psychiatrist and is not able to diagnose medical or psychiatric ailments.
By utilising the techniques in this article, the participant acknowledges that he/she assumes full responsibility for the knowledge gained herein and its application. The reader takes full responsibility for the way they utilise and exercise the information in this article.The key points discussed are guidelines and suggestions for the support of personal development. This article is not intended as a replacement for facilitated psychological therapies. Anyone using the information in this article acknowledges that they have read and understand the details of this disclaimer.