The 3 Duties Of Our Emotions

Michael Patanella
Sep 1, 2018 · 4 min read

Most of us know that controlling, or “regulating” our emotions is a good road to take. Unregulated emotions can quickly spell disaster. Because of that, emotions often get a bad rap, and even just the word “emotion” alone, seems to give off an aura of negativity. It doesn’t make sense considering there are several emotions, could even be half of them, which do not reflect negativity, and in fact are based on things positive.

I have been researching and studying about emotions, and I recently learned about three responsibilities or jobs that emotions have. Each one, having a pinnacle role in the journey and roads that emotions travel.

Usually the first job, and main job of emotions starts out as Communication. It’s the most obvious of jobs as well. I consider emotions to be set up as a series as parts, and even though we may often think of emotions as things going on just inside of us, emotions are pieces of many puzzles, and a portion of emotions is, a form of communication.

It’s actually communication’s role to be the avenue for many emotions. It provides the setting for there to be a point A, and a point B, along with the means for getting from that A, to that B.

Experts say that the communication of emotions is best bone through our voice both how loud and what tone, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact and even the way we are sitting or standing. A straight, balanced posture, tells a much better, honest, and truer statement then one slumped and sluggish. We often tell quite the story, without as much even speaking one word.

That’s why if I really want to make sure that somebody knows that I’m being honest, I be quite sure to give and keep a solid eye contact.

It’s said that the second role that emotion plays is Motivation. Emotion can be a contributing factor and are a driving force behind organizing our motivation.

There are times, when a sudden danger may trigger automatic emotions, that in turn motivate some type of action which then helps us in protecting or saving ourselves or others. There are other situations where emotions of anxiety can lead into motivating us to accomplish a great job interview, when we initially were quite nervous and anxious about. The same similar scenario can also be true when facing a strict deadline for a difficult project, or a midterm exam.

As we can see from those situations, emotions can be fast, instant, and instinctive. by being that way, they also save us valuable time. Even when not so fast and instinctive, and besides being motivating, emotions also keep us safe, focused, and goal oriented.

So the third task of emotions is its job of Validation. The most used example that I have found in much of my research on this topic, is the scenario of when we have “gut instincts.” The times when it’s our emotions that trigger a message at we quickly process, though not always aware of exactly where it came from. Yet, many times, we ended up being right. We receive messages subconsciously, seemingly automatic.

I also had read that emotion’s job of validation, many times can be perceived as fact, when we are working from a self validation point of view. If we were to state that we feel angry, or we’re exhausted, or devastated, those statements can can weigh much heavier on a scale as facts, when many would had just assumed those to be opinions.

So, in a brief nutshell, those are the 3 duties, jobs, responsibilities, and tasks of emotions. As I spent the last several weeks learning about emotions, I found this subject of the 3 jobs very interesting and informative. It gave me a completely different and new view of how my emotions, as well as other people’s emotions are working. I didn’t know then, like I know now, how incredibly vital emotions, even some of the negative ones, really are.

Real Life Resilience

A primer on becoming a more resilient person, stories of recovery and resilience, and resources for living a more joy-filled life.

Michael Patanella

Written by

Publisher, Editor, prolific nonfiction Author covering mindfulness, mental health, addiction, sobriety & spirituality. Medium.com/@MichaelPatanella

Real Life Resilience

A primer on becoming a more resilient person, stories of recovery and resilience, and resources for living a more joy-filled life.

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