Meeting the Emotional Self
Our primary means of interacting with the
world around us is through our emotions. These signals were created by
evolution to help us determine what is most important for safely navigating our
environment. They take the form of physiological sensations that provide us
with information about how we are feeling in the present moment, such as
fluctuations in our body's heart rate, breathing patterns, muscle tension, and
neurotransmitters or hormones: Are we in a dangerous situation? Are there needs
that we don't currently have?
Although hormones,
neurotransmitters, and the nervous system are all involved in physiological
responses related to emotions, feelings are the conscious experience of these
physiological responses. Because our ability to survive depends on our ability
to process information in the moment, our brains work quickly to process
environmental stimuli so that we can react quickly if we sense a threat to our
safety. Our subconscious makes sense of everything we encounter on a daily
basis in order to make sense of what is going on and to alleviate the
discomfort associated with uncertainty. The different feelings we experience
are then the result of our brain interpreting our body's physiological changes
or emotions based on this meaning.
