We all start experiencing emotions from an early age. 

 

Our ability to feel and respond to our emotions is often taken for granted. We very rarely stop to think and pay close attention to what we are feeling. We do not consider the impact that emotions could have on us especially if they are negative. Negative Emotions can have a considerable effect on our mental well-being and our relationships and holding onto are emotions that we find difficult to manage can have long-term implications. 

 

It is however,  important to distinguish between emotions and feelings although the two are connected but there is a big difference between the two. 

 

Emotions are associated with bodily reactions that are activated through neurotransmitters and hormones released by the brain and feelings are the conscious experience of emotional reactions.

 

Feelings contribute to any partly mental or physical response marked by happiness, relaxation, joy, pain, hurt, desires, dislike or repulsion. ; it may suggest the mere existence of a response but imply nothing about the nature or intensity of it. 

 

Emotions have a stronger physical grounding than feelings which means that researchers have found that it is easier to measure them objectively through physical cues such as facial expressions and body language.

 

Feelings  which tend to be our reactions to the different emotions we experience whereas,  emotions can have a more generalized experience across all humans, feelings are more subjective and are influenced by our personal experiences and interpretations based on our experiences.

 

Anger, Sadness, Fear, Guilt and Conflict are all negative emotions that affect us the most. 

  

Negative emotion is “ an unpleasant or unhappy emotion which is evoked in individuals to express a negative effect towards an event or person.” 

 

Once we start exploring negative emotions a little bit more, we can  really start to see what might cause or trigger them in us, and why we have them in the first place.

 

Negative emotions, in particular, can help you recognize threats and feel prepared to positively handle potential dangers. 

 

So Do We Want to Overcome and Stop Negative Emotions Altogether? In a nutshell, no.

 

Negative emotions are an incredibly normal, healthy and helpful part of life. But if we start to feel stuck and find it hard to move on then it becomes important for us to deal with the negative emotions so that we are in a position to manage them well. 

 

Negative emotions often encourage us to react immediately to a given scenario based on our feelings and experiences. When we feel angry, we may lash out or shout. When we become sad, we may withdraw and reject people around us. Sometimes we need to act on these impulses, but mostly we don’t. By exploring our negative emotions we can start to develop an understanding of how we react, and instead start to switch this to positive ways of responding, which could mean learning that no reaction is required at all.

 

The five of the most common negative emotions that we work with are 

 

• Anger

• Sadness

• Fear

• Guilt

• Conflict