The Reality of Emotions

   Have you ever felt emotion hit you like a tidal wave? Like your own personal hurricane slamming against you over and over until you can't feel yourself breath anymore? Until it overwhelms you to the point of surrender, and you give in completely to the emotions which create the raging torrent inside of you.


Why do our emotions ebb and flow this way?  When you lose yourself to the torrent, how do you reconnect with reality? Where is the shore when the tide pulls you in...that's my question right now.


It feels as though I am constantly battling that current of emotion. It pulls, and I try to swim down under it and resurface up on top of it once more. But that's only the start of the cycle. It's a daily fight and a complete toss up each time as to who may win; me, or the emotions that build underneath the calm, bubbly surface. 


Out of curiosity, I looked up the definition to "Emotion." I found many, but here are a few I'd like to share:

As defined by the Medical Dictionary:

emo·tion definition

Pronunciation:  /i-ˈmō-shən/ 
Function: n 
1 :  the affective aspect of consciousness 
2 :  a state of feeling 
3 :  a conscious mental reaction (as anger or fear) subjectivelyexperienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specificobject and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body.

And as defined by www.dictionary.com,
–noun

1.

an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow,fear, hate, or the like, is experienced, as distinguished fromcognitive and volitional states of consciousness.

2.

any of the feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, love, etc.

3.

any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by experiencinglove, hate, fear, etc., and usually accompanied by certainphysiological changes, as increased heartbeat or respiration,and often overt manifestation, as crying or shaking.

It feels nice to put a clear definition to something that isn't tangible. 

Emotions. A state of feeling, often manifested in a conscious mental reaction and a subconscious change in behavior.

I don't know about you all, but when it comes to battling something we have so little control over it's good to know that we have one weapon to fight back with: new knowledge. An unending desire to learn more about what drives us to these emotions, how they come about, and why they cause "behavioral changes" is as strong a life jacket as any. After all, knowledge is power, is it not?

So until next time, good luck to all of you out there who are swimming in the sea of emotion. Remember, safety first. Never swim without your life jacket.