What Are Emotions?
We tend to think about emotions in terms of subjective sentimentalism - but they live in the body and belong in the nervous system. The nervous system is the body system that helps us react to the world around us. The nervous system works with the five senses you were probably taught as a kid:
The Five Senses
Sight
Hearing
Smelling
Tasting
Touch
The nervous system also helps us survive. Its in charge of our survival responses.
Survival Responses:
Fight: Put up your fists, or start kicking!
Flight: Run away!
Faint: Too scary! Play dead! (Also: Immediate full body reset! Cannot handle situation! Shut down! Reboot now!)
Flood: Overwhelming emotion such as someone screaming uncontrollably. (Like me… when I have a wasp fly in my face. I also try to hit the buzzing creature, which is…fight. And yes, my logic brain knows this is pointless.)
Fawn: This is when a victim does their best not to be a threat. They will physically make themselves small, shut down emotionally, or try to offer things to appease the aggressor. It’s also known as ‘tend and befriend,’ - which is the new understanding of Stockholm Syndrome. (Here’s a great low triggering article on Stockholm Syndrome: https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/why-stockholm-syndrome-happens-and-how-to-help-0926184 )
I’ve shared this video before but it’s the best illustration of what happens when we’re faced with a survival situation.
And when I say survival situation… I don’t always mean life-threatening danger. Our survival response is wired to be extra sensitive so we react quickly in real life danger. But our survival reaction to jerk the steering wheel to avoid a car accident is the same survival reaction to the other person’s candidate winning and ‘our side’ loosing.
The nervous system doesn’t know the difference. And that’s what makes emotions so disruptive. It feels like we don’t have any control.
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