Set 1: Joy, Love, Hope, Inspired, Motivated, Pride
Set 2: Anger, Grief, Guilt, Sadness, Vulnerability, Anxiety, Shame
You don’t have to pay much attention to realize that the emotions in Set1 are Positive emotions and Set 2 are negative emotions. If you further evaluate them as in how you handle these emotions you will notice that you are more than willing to share your joy and love with people around and you will proudly tell the world your success stories. But you will put in every ounce of your energy to camouflage any shame, guilt or anger you are feeling. Though we understand these emotions and can agree that we all go through them at some point or the other, we are rarely courageous enough to accept them when we go through them in real life.
Suppression and Repression of emotions are the leading causes for Depression.
Suppressed emotions are those that are consciously avoided by us. When someone notices that you are bothered by something, which you are and ask if you are okay and you respond with a smile saying “I am Fine”, you are suppressing your emotions. Though suppressing emotions is required to go about our day to day life, it is important that we are aware of what we are feeling and we must find a way to vent these emotions.
Repression of emotions happens when you are no longer aware of the emotions that you are feeling. When you know you are not feeling comfortable while meeting certain people or going to a certain place but you cannot label that particular feeling, it is probably due to a bad experience in the past which embedded as a sour memory. You avoid such situations so much that you forget what exactly you felt and why you avoid similar situations.
Suppression of emotions is learnt by oneself to function well in the society and Repression happens subconsciously. There are cases in which camouflaging of emotions is taught;
How many times have you heard?
Someone telling a baby boy “Are you a girl? Why are you crying?!”
Someone telling a little girl “Girls shouldn’t argue. You will come across as dominative!”
These kinds of statements make a huge impact on a child’s impression on that particular emotion. It is a proven fact that men have higher heart risks and women are found to be less demanding while asking for a hike. The way you nurture, handle and react to a child’s emotion plays a huge role in their emotional wellbeing.
Teaching your child to be emotionally strong is important to make them ready for the world. Let your children vent their emotions, sometimes they might not understand what they are feeling but you can help them understand by teaching them the necessary vocabulary to identify an emotion and how to handle them. Assure them that they can always share their feelings with you and promise that you won’t judge them.
Being ignorant of your own emotions is not just bliss but gives you this immense courage which is sans the realization of consequences, whereas being fully aware of your emotions might be a bane at times but will give you the power to be at peace or at least make peace with the situations.
Self-Realization and Self-actualization can only start with Emotional Courage.
