Feelings originate from emotions, and the capacity or sensitivity to feel depends on one’s level of self-awareness. Awareness of emotions and sentiments aids in the development of perception.
What is an Emotion?
The origin of the English word “emotion” can be traced back to the Latin word “emovere,” which means “to move” or “to stir up.” The current definition of emotion that dates back to the early 1600s means – a natural propensity or instinctive tendency of the mind. Emotions are mental and physiological reactions or states that occur in response to external or internal stimuli. They are often accompanied by physiological changes, such as increased heart rate, sweating, and blood pressure or physical changes, such as noticeable changes in facial expressions, body language, voice, etc. Emotions can be positive (e.g., happiness, love, pride, and excitement) or negative (e.g., anger, sadness, fear, and disgust).
What is a Feeling?
The English word “feel” comes from the Old English word “folian” which means “to sense or perceive”. “Feeling” can also be used as a noun to describe the sensations or emotions experienced. It can also be referred to convey an emotion, explain the tactile experience, or highlight a person’s capacity for empathy. The feeling can also be used to describe the emotions that you are experiencing. Emotions like joy, sorrow, wrath, fear, love, etc., are expressed through the feeling.
How do Emotions and Feelings impact Us?
Emotion is often used interchangeably with feelings, but there is a distinction between the two. Feelings are the conscious experience of emotions. An emotion is a mental and physiological state connected to a particular physiological arousal or response to various stimuli from the external world. A feeling is an innate response to an emotion, which refers to an internal physical or biological response to these stimulations. A conscious experience of an emotion is referred to as a feeling. Despite the actuality that we aren’t always in charge of our emotions, which are typically brought on by circumstances or stimuli from the outside world, we are in control of how we respond to those emotions because they originate from within ourselves as feelings. Feelings are more internalized than emotions, often directed at someone or something. How we feel about a particular emotion or the feeling that a specific emotion initiated will leave a long-lasting impression on us, even if the emotion itself may only stay for a brief period before it passes away. As a result, feelings have the potential to persist for a substantially more extended period compared to emotions. Having a positive or a negative feeling about someone or something is all nurtured by our current or past external environment.
What is a Perception?
Perception is the process of processing the sensory information we receive and take in from the world around us. Not only does this covers what we see but also what we hear, what we smell, what we taste, and what we feel. Our emotions and feelings contribute significantly to the formation of our perceptions. For instance, if we see someone we are attracted to, our feelings of attraction and want will influence how we interpret what we see in that person which might not be the actual reality. We’ll find them more appealing, or we’ll take their behavior as an indication that they’re more inclined toward us. As it has been said many times, we see only what we want to see. In a similar vein, when we are under the impression that we are in danger or that we are threatened by someone, we may misjudge the level of threat posed by another person. How we recall and remember things is also impacted by the feelings and emotions we experience. A circumstance or event that elicits a strong emotional response from us, whether positive or negative, is more likely to stick in our minds. For this reason, it is commonly said that emotions are the driving force behind the formation of life’s enduring memories.
Why is Self-Awareness key to living a Meaningful Life?
Awareness is the mental or emotional capacity to be cognizant of one’s environment, including people, places, things, and experiences. The Latin term “conscius,” meaning “to know jointly,” is where we derive our modern English word “awareness.” When a person is consciously aware and mindful, they can receive and validate any sensory knowledge from internal or external environments, even if they don’t understand it fully at first. In a broader sense, it’s the independence to acquire information. And when this awareness is about oneself, which is termed self-awareness.
We always view the world through our lens of objectivity and understanding. Self-awareness is key to developing perception as it facilitates an objective view of oneself. By building this vantage point of objectiveness, we can enhance and adjust our life to improve our perception of reality concerning ourselves and the world. Say, for instance, if an individual is constantly being critical of themselves and continuously self-sabotage when something happens, or they fail to fulfill their own standard of righteousness. This behavior can be viewed as entirely negative or self-defeating. However, if they become aware of this self-crushing behavior and understand how it impacts their quality of life. Making a conscious effort to change how we perceive and talk to the self can help them build a better perception and eventually improve the quality of life by removing the self-destroying behavior. Overall, self-awareness is essential in building perception. Having insight into oneself enables us to make deliberate decisions that enhance our perspective about ourselves and others.
How do Emotions and Feelings help Build Perception?
Perspective is developed through emotional and felt experiences, as they provide a means of comprehending and responding to the environment. They also help us connect with others, form relationships, and further regulate our behavior and make decisions. Perception is heavily influenced by emotion and feeling. Things perceived as pleasant are often associated with positive emotions, while unpleasant things are related to negative emotions. This sometimes leads to a feedback loop, where the emotions caused by the perception influence the perception itself.
Our Relationship with Emotions and Feelings
Over time, various elements trigger certain emotions and feelings inside us based on the environment we grew up in or currently live in. And as life goes on, their impressions get stored in our conscious or subconscious memory. Whenever we see, judge, or interpret something, it is directly influenced by these past and existing circumstances but most notably by our perception of reality. And our perception of reality is directly affected by the knowledge and memory that we have to build over time by experiencing various emotions and feelings. To put it another way, when we’re confronted with adversity, the feelings of anger, sorrow, grief, insult, empathy, and any other delicate human emotion, are all the result of how we interpret the occasion based on what we’ve learned or experienced. To illustrate, let’s consider a situation where you are angry about a co-worker who promised to complete their part of the left-over task while you were away but failed to fulfill this commitment due to carelessness. Therefore, you lose your sanity and get very angry, which directly impacts your work. Deep down, you feel lied to or ignored or disrespected. But now, on fully realizing your emotions, you should take a step back and reevaluate your feelings. In reality, the current scenario has only pulled out the anger that was always there. This anger is based on your perception of the situation, which is formed based on your past experiences and trauma or unresolved or suppressed past emotions.
We may fix our emotional projections on ourselves and the world around us once we begin to examine our present actions and come to terms with the fact that we are the source of these feelings. All our emotions are valid, and we shouldn’t strive to stifle them, but we should investigate their causes and work toward resolving them. The first step is to have a conversation with oneself, to become aware of one’s underlying feelings and emotions, rather than berating oneself. The genuine cause will become evident if we are self-aware of our feelings and emotions and are able to observe our innermost thoughts and sensations without judgment. A quest for the origin of these feelings could lead us back to a time and place in our past, whether it be our formative years or more recent experiences, to identify the context in which we first experienced the crest of this feeling. Observe without judgment and accept them. Once we start reverse-reading each emotion instead of self-sabotaging for feeling that emotion, we will be able to commence the journey of true self-healing.
For the sake of example, assume Maggie, now in her mid-30s, has a healthy marriage, but she sometimes feels disconnected from her partner when they’re engaging in sexual activity. She feels guilty when she realizes she does not share her husband’s emotional state and feels immense wrath of anger inside her. Working with a therapist to conquer this feeling allows her to uncover that past trauma was the cause of these present feelings. She can link it back to the time when she was sexually abused by her older stepcousin during her preteens. Her mind developed this disengagement strategy during sexual contact to cope with undesirable emotions like fear, anger, or unprotection at a tender age. As a result, the bitterness and resentment she now feels against herself lingered for many years behind the scenes. Self-awareness was the only thing that allowed her to see that it wasn’t her fault.
We all have emotions and feelings, which are a vital part of our identity; these make us humane. It is essential to embrace them no matter their form, even if deemed destructive, because they help us become more attuned to our environment. When we give ourselves permission to feel whatever we’re feeling and allow ourselves to be vulnerable, we pave the way for healing. There may be occasions when we may feel as though we should repress some feelings, particularly unpleasant ones, and we’re not allowed to experience negative emotions like anger, sadness, or fear. By doing so, we are not allowing ourselves the opportunity to process and healthily deal with them. They will always come back, therefore, it’s best to face them head-on. But in actuality, it is okay to feel rage, anger, sadness, frightened, loneliness, insecurity and much more. We can finally start to deal with the things that might be causing us pain, process them healthily and move on from them. Forcefully suppressing them can cause a lot of inner turmoil and bring self-harm. Ignoring our emotions might cause us psychological and physiological distress. Some studies have linked suppressed anger to increased risks of hypertension and other illnesses. Likewise, persons who stuff their feelings of sadness are more likely to develop clinical depression.
Acknowledging And Accepting Our Current State Of Mind Is The First Step
The second step is to allow ourselves to feel them fully without judgment. And finally, we should understand circumstances, traumas, events or our feelings and emotions that led to these feelings. What is the real reason that makes us feel angry, sad, or afraid? It may or may not be what is in front of us or some other event from the past or situation that has ignited such feelings. Because if we actively look, most evidently, the answer is within. Once we know the cause, we will feel much more in control of our feelings and can start working on resolving the issue.
Emotions and feelings help build perception by providing a means of comprehending and responding to the environment. They also help us connect with others, form relationships, and further regulate our behavior and make decisions.
Emotions and sentiments contribute to perception by colouring our views and interpretations of the world. In addition to facilitating social interaction and the development of meaningful connections, they aid in managing desires and forming sound judgments. Thus, to create a balanced view of ourselves and the world, we become emotionally self-aware and learn to recognize and accept our emotions and sentiments.
