Greetings Friends!

Laughing is a wordless physical expression for every emotion, except sadness -- though sometimes people laugh in the midst of crying when recalling a story about a loved one who has died. Nervous laughter is a release for fear. Sarcastic laughter is a release for anger. Genuine melodious laughter expresses joy and love. Opening your mouth and letting out the sounds of joy can open almost every door that's been closed to you. A peaceful chuckle indicates that we relish the humor and unfathomable nature of life. 

Before we get to the topic at hand, here's an ode to all the graduates. Everybody's journey is unique and this fellow's is particularly sweet. Check out the article from the LA Times. 

Why It's Important to Make a Distinction Between Feelings and Emotions

People tend to throw around a lot of words to describe their emotions or feelings. We're confused or we feel frustrated. We're hurt or we're excited. Whatever the label, deciphering feelings from emotions can be a bit perplexing. If we start by learning the difference there are big rewards: it pinpoints what's going on inside, so we can take personal responsibility and free ourselves from what's holding us back from living a fulfilling life.

According to Attitude Reconstruction, we only have six emotions: sadness, anger, fear, joy, love, and peace. Each has a unique spontaneous physical reaction. We can have hundreds of different feelings. Feelings are the labels we attach to our emotions. Emotions are physical. Feelings are how we describe and interpret these wordless physiological reactions.

The emotions of sadness, anger, and fear are the underlying emotions of every bad attitude and feeling. For example if I feel judgmental, it means I really feel the emotion of anger and I'm not accepting the way other people or situations are.

When we understand that the definition of emotion is "E + motion," energy in motion, things become simple. Emotions are physical. Feelings are mental. Feelings are created when we add an interpretation to the emotional physiology we are feeling in our bodies.    

While you're moving out the physical energy, refrain from verbalizing or feeding negative thoughts. Just occupy your mind with what's true. In the case of sadness, while crying, it's "I feel sad. I just need to cry. It's okay." While releasing the anger in a non-damaging physical way, it's:  "I just feel mad. It's okay to feel angry. I just need to pound it out." When expressing fear and shivering, think or say "I'm just feeling scared right now. It's okay to shake it out. I'll feel better if I do."

Check out the links below for more details on how to get your emotions out:

         Sadness = Cry.                Anger = Pound/Kick/Stomp/Hit/Yell.                Fear = Shiver.

If emoting isn't your thing, you can use your mind to deal with sadness, anger, and fear.  With your thoughts you must do two things: interrupt your old mental chatter, (which only fans sadness, anger, and fear), and rigorously replace it with opposing thoughts. That means stick to thoughts that honor yourself (diminish sadness), accept other people and situations (offset anger), and are present and specific (lessen fear) and ignore the rest.

"Could you up the dosage? I still have feelings."

Feeling Words

His third step suggests that we can choose how to deal with them in a variety of ways, such as express our emotions to our target. (Jude says: Yikes! This doesn't work very well, because if we try to talk when we're feeling angry, it comes out as finger pointing and blaming.)  

 
"I've learned to express my emotions by writing instead."

Hey Jude,