What Is The Purpose Of Emotion?

what is the purpose of emotion what's going on you guys today we're going to talk about a word that sometimes gets gets a bad rap the word emotion we're going to talk about what emotions are and how they serve us and i'm going to give you guys one little tool on how to manage your emotions in a healthy way hey guys i'm tyler wandering therapist i am excited to be visiting with you today about the topic of emotions the word emotion sometimes gets vilified in the therapy world i'll have a couple sitting on my couch and one of the other couples i'll say what's going on and they'll say about their partner they're just too emotional as if that's a bad thing and sometimes we feel because emotions can move us in different ways that's why it's called emotions think so think about the word e motion it's the way that we are moved and sometimes those things feel unstable and sometimes they're uncomfortable and as a result we often feel like emotions betray us or that emotions aren't a good thing i would submit to you that emotions are an essential thing for living a happy life and there's a couple of really good reasons why we have emotions so one of the first reasons why we have emotions and one of the things that emotions produce for us is motion and movement or motivation when we feel something whatever we feel it's paired up with an automatic response so if you think about anger anger is paired up usually with fight and sometimes if we look at it from an evolutionary perspective the anger is probably what actually helps us to survive when something has been taken from us and we have to go and protect ourselves or defend our families or do something else that response that's paired with the emotion is actually what moves us into action that allows us to survive if we're feeling sad or if we're feeling down the paired up response is usually to either cry or to move away and to take a time out which isn't necessarily a bad thing that's a good thing which allows us to reground ourselves it allows us to protect ourselves and it becomes some part of our survival system you think about all the goals that you set for yourself any goal that you set for yourself in your rational mind is only going to be pursued because there's an emotional part of you that's driving for it that knows that you're going to hit that goal and you're going to receive some emotional sometimes a physical payout for the work that you put in to reach that goal so emotions move us into action and they become a very powerful thing they're responsible for our impulse they're responsible for our survival they're responsible for us to be motivated to make the changes in our lives that we need to sometimes and if we don't feel those emotions it doesn't allow us to be as productive in our lives it also doesn't allow us to actually be able to soak up the full saver of what life has to offer this world that we're living in the life that we have to live right now is designed for us to have experience and in those experiences come waves of emotion and those waves of emotion gives us opportunity to learn and to grow and to respond to those things that we're feeling so one of the places where we go wrong with emotion is that sometimes our reaction or our emotional response doesn't necessarily line itself up with the facts and then that's where we get into trouble so one of the skills that we're going to talk about today with managing our emotions is to check the facts when you're noticing an emotion this takes a couple of simple things to do the first thing is to start paying attention to how you feel so you may set an alarm a couple of times a day and when that alarm goes off see if you can do this quick exercise where you connect your physical body to the emotion that you're feeling so if i were to do a quick scan on my body right now i would say there's some tension in my cheeks there's some tension in my neck there's a little bit of tightness in my chest my heart's pounding what's that emotion that's anxiety of course i'm having a little bit of anxiety because i'm talking to you right now and and of course i want to give something of value to you so there's a little bit of anxiety there it's appropriate for me to have a level of anxiety right now in this situation which means that my body and my response to want to do certain things is in line with the situation in that case we follow through on what our emotion is saying and what anxiety does even though most of us think anxiety is bad anxiety in a healthy way is also the thing that motivates us and it helps us to perform and so if i allow my emotion to be what it is in this moment because it's an appropriate time to feel it it becomes a way that i can better serve you because now i can perform at a higher level than i otherwise wouldn't without a little bit of that anxiety if on the other hand my anxiety was through the roof at like a level 10 out of 10 and i'm talking to you in a camera right now it doesn't really line itself up with the facts there's no reason for me to be feeling all of that anxiety that's where i have problems because then that anxiety will shut me down or it'll cause my mind to spin and then i won't be able to think clearly and that's where we get into problems so the way that we do this is we check the facts i'm feeling some anxiety given the circumstance that i find myself in look around at your circumstance does my emotion fit the facts and if the answer is yes then i continue to live the way that my emotion is telling me in that moment if the answer is no then one of the things that i can do is i act opposite to that emotion so if i was having some fear about something and it wasn't justified let's say i have a fear of snakes and i run into a little baby garter snake on the trail today my fear might go through the roof at a level 10 even though a baby garter snake would probably warrant for most people a level two or three if the facts don't fit my emotions then i can act opposite instead of running away from the snake i can take a step closer and i can try to observe it or if i get really brave i might even reach down and put my fingers on it for a second just to to show myself that i'm living within the facts of the situation and in doing so i allow myself to line myself up with the feelings i'm having accurately with the life that i'm living and when i do that life becomes vibrant it becomes colorful i can trust myself to live in those moments so you guys check the facts if you're living in the facts of your emotions continue on and enjoy that moment that you're in with whatever it has to offer whether that's pleasure or pain and if not act opposite to that emotion and train yourself to live in the reality of what's right in front of you you guys have an awesome day thank you so much for being here with me if you found this to be valuable for you please hit the like and subscribe button if you're facing particular struggles that you need help with or roadblocks that you're running into please submit a question i'd be happy to answer it for you [Music] you