(no subject)

[johnpalmer]

kightp and I were discussing something today. Upon reflection, who out there thinks that sensing one's own emotional state could be thought of as a sense, like, e.g., the kinesthesic sense (I think that's the name of the sense that lets you determine your body's position)?

Do you think that thinking of it in that sense might mean something? i.e., it'd be useful to think of it as a sense one can develop/sharpen... or think of it as something that could be sharper or duller in different people, etc.?

Comments

Re: spiral?

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

The biggest thing, for me, was to start thinking of emotions as an energy state. Now, some woo-woo folks talk about "negative energy" and stuff that makes it sound like it's a bunch of new age crap.

But it doesn't matter. If you learn to think of an emotional state as an energy state, and learn to change that energy state by 'talking' to your body and brain, it doesn't matter how you do it, or what you call it.

If you learn to focus, take a deep breath, and pretend to let negative emotional energy drain from your feet into the ground, and it stops you from feeling angry, cranky, sad, ot whatever, it doesn't matter if you think about it as having "drained out the energy" or think about it as having used self-awareness to change your mental/emotional state.

So, what it comes down to, in excruciatingly short form is, I did the kind of things people call magic or energy work, only with my emotions. I worked on using my responses as a form of biofeedback, and started learning how to deal with intense emotions, and how to shape my emotional states the way I wanted to, as best I could. This doesn't mean ignoring how I feel... it just means "being tense and angry isn't doing me any good right now, so let's relax, and let the anger come forward only when it's helping."

Just knowing that I have a bit of control over my emotional states helps, because that means I'm no longer afraid of my emotions pushing me around.

Re: spiral?

[(Anonymous)]

very interesting. a couple years ago during my divorce, i went to a therapist who was into biofeedback. after years of telling therapists about my mother or my childhood or whatever, it was refreshing to simply alter my physical states by conscious will and thereby initiate changes in my emotional states. i'm still amazed at how integrated these things are.

the body and the mind are so linked, more so than the obvious i mean. there's a theater guy who recently had some physical issues and, being the OCD gal i am, i looked into it online. i kept coming up with the same layman's diagnosis after process of elimination: he was suffering from hysteria. kid you not. actual hysteria. the body had nothing wrong but the mind was shorting out and it manifested in the body. no seizures; just emotional shit backing up! a doctor friend confirmed this theory and later his doctors said the same thing, essentially.

i am an emotional creature. i used to be much more reactive. these days, i've learned to do exactly what you're talking about, i think. for example, when i get pissed off and i feel like i'm gonna lose control, i breathe deeply. i calm my body. i do the self-talk internally that says "okay, getting upset isn't gonna help me here. relax. let go." it works. people don't get me all riled up like they used to be able to do.

it is hard, though. when my body goes into fight or flight, which seems to happen when i'm afraid or angry, my initial reaction is to do one of the two. i have to methodically practice the calming stuff you're talking about without defaulting to the lowest common denominator.

why did i used to feel that fight or flight so intensely? do you know what i'm talking about? that shaking, sweating feeling of absolute fear? my ex used to be able to scare me like that with a look and a word. very few people have seen me that scared, because i default to rage when it happens and that's never fun. it's not that i don't still feel that fear(especially when my lawyer tells me i need to be cautious and watch out for myself at the moment) but when i do feel it, i know what it is and how to reign it in. maybe it comes from being abused as a child or emotionally abused as an adult. do most people learn how to do this calming thing early on, and i'm just a late bloomer??? it's liberating to be given the tools to NOT be reactive, rather than accused of being reactive like i'm a bad person. now i can laugh it off when i'm accused of being overly emotional because it doesn't trigger my defenses.

is this what you feel sometimes or am i alone on this?

Re: spiral?

[(Anonymous)]

also, we saw something interesting recently. there's a show called TAPS, The Atlantic Paranormal Society, we watch when we catch it. the folks on the program are fairly skeptical, which is nice. not like watching most haunted where the entire show is based on. . .as you called it, "new age crap." anyway, one of the most interesting things we'd seen on TAPS was when a self-proclaimed "psychic" was trying to read one of the hosts. the host was mentally actively "blocking" the attempt, just for fun. the thermal imaging cameras caught this bizarre temperature exchange between the host and the psychic, that eventually led to a bob of color flowing from the host to the psychic, who actually came up with some accurate information about the host, btw. it was cool. reminded me of the kinetic photography that indicated the outline of a cut leaf, with the original outline being present as a visible image AFTER leaf had been cut and THEN photographed. fun. but it brings to mind the possibility that there could be a state wherein the human mind might perceive the energy of any emotional or mental state or process. maybe by perceiving heat exchange or something. hmn.

now, pat, am i getting WAY off-discussion here?