Emotion’s reality is a relative concept.  One person’s reality may be another’s myth when it comes to an emotional response.  Our emotions judge whether a remark was a deliberate insult or an attempt at humor.  Which is the reality?  Perception is the standard for emotion’s judgment.  The formation of a perception is, in itself, a complex operation.  Our experiences (the accumulation of past emotional judgments) and our hopes, formed by the expectations of the future, color and shape our perceptions.  

Our Environment Includes Our Temperament

We are not always conscious of all the elements that mold our thinking or shape our emotions.  To this extent we are a product of our environment.  And in this context, our environment includes the forces of temperament with which we are hardwired.  Our temperament influences our decisions.  The NF may detect an insult while the SP may laugh at their perceived humor of the same remark.  

We Seldom Choose an Emotion

Except for the times when we want to conger up a feeling or act a part, emotion arrives unbidden.  It assails our mental senses and presents itself without ceremony or fanfare.  We are simply the media for its will.  

Therefore, we can’t be held responsible for many of the emotions that boil within us.  Our accountability arises only when we nurture them and feed their demands of us.  The mental path of emotion that we have discussed makes this clear as well as our experience of being overtaken by their sudden demands.  

Inside Stimuli Influence Emotion’s Reality

Not only the actual presence of danger, but merely our own thoughts can turn our emotions on.   If we simply think of being unjustly treated, we can feel the surge of emotional heat.  This, too, happens faster than our thought process and can overcome us in a second.  What is perceived, real or imaginary, is our emotion’s reality. 

The Window of Opportunity and Emotion’s Reality

Wherever the stimuli comes from, we are left with only a small window of opportunity to grasp the chance to think through the situation to make our own decision on what we should be feeling, thinking, or doing.  Therefore, the NFs (who are supersensitive and live primarily in their inner world) find their thoughts can conquer them without time to stop the initial surge.  In fact, they can feel the full force of their emotions that are generated by events that have  already past or are only imagined without any other stimuli.

Next time, we’ll consider “manipulation of our emotions”.

Resources to Help You:

THE WONDERFUL TRUTH ABOUT EMOTION

Are there such things as intelligent emotions? Intelligently Emotional will argue that there are. And they are the ones we must focus on if we want to know success.

Ray W. Lincoln will show us how understanding the patterns of emotion in our temperament will enable us to manage our emotions effectively. If you long to know how to understand your emotions and the immense power of your feelings, Intelligently Emotional  will show you the way.  The path to real emotional intelligence requires learning to partner with intelligent emotions.

DISCOVER THE TRUTH OF WHO YOU ARE!

Lean into the whole truth.  Discover the truth of who YOU are — the “Real You” — and who your children truly are.  Discover how to best engage your children in finding the whole truth.  INNERKINETICS, Your Blueprint to Excellence will guide you in that

Our team at InnerKinetics is ready to provide that help, too.  If you’d like some assistance, you can request a consultation.  An InnerKinetics consultant will call you to answer questions and schedule your meeting. Schedule an Initial Consultation. Alternatively, if you are more independent and want to cut to the chase, you need not wait for a call back. You can get answers to your questions and schedule your session HERE.

Our first and most important task in a world-changing mission is to learn how to think straight (and teach straight thinking) and combat the insurgence of crooked thinking in our culture and in our world today. If we become passive victims of this crooked way of thinking, we promote it. Furthermore, if we remain silent, we also give it credence. In Who Am I?, the reader progresses from how we have become “crooked thinkers” to how to break out of this prison of the mind to become instruments of change for a better world.  We do this by recognizing from where we derive our value as humans. “Build a straight and powerful mind.” ~ Ray W. Lincoln