The Importance Of Emotions: How Do They Affect Us?

There are no good or bad emotions by themselves, quite the contrary. the emotions They give us very valuable information about the processes we are experiencing and how we are facing them. With professional support work, we can learn to manage them, but we cannot prevent them from arising. They all have a purpose, they come to tell us something that we must listen to.

What are emotions for?

As we say, the problem is not the emotions itself, but the way in which we manage them. In essence, every emotion constitutes an impulse that mobilizes us to action. The etymological root of the word itself accounts for this, since Latin “move” It means to move and the prefix e denotes an objective. emotion means “movement towards”. A practical and real knowledge of emotions involves allowing emotions to affect us and understanding how we react spontaneously to each of them.

If we act automatically without coming into contact with the emotion we avoid feeling certain unpleasant sensations but, at the same time, we miss out on information necessary to understand the meaning of what affects us and find strategies and resources that help us cope with the situation.

Talk with emotion or with the symptom (for example anxiety) offers us answers on how to act and what strategies collaborate in resolving the conflict. Becoming aware of the function of an emotion and respecting it is a first step to unblock a situation that is difficult to manage.

We define emotional intelligence as a set of skills that include self-control, enthusiasm, empathy, perseverance, and the ability to motivate oneself. Although some of these abilities may be configured in our genetics, and many others develop during the first years of life, research shows that emotional skills They can be trained and developed throughout life.

Functions of emotions

Emotions play a very important role both in the way we think and in the way we show ourselves in front of others. So much so that the importance of emotions lies fundamentally in how they come to dominate us in our daily lives. In order to understand the emotions and feelings linked to them, it is essential to understand what the components of emotion are. In this way, we can observe three parts within emotions:

• Subjective component: Subjectivity is the way you experience emotion The way in which they manipulate you so that you can see reality is a consequence of your way of being and subjectivity.
• Physiological component: The way our body reacts is the so-called physiological component of emotion. These sensations can affect the subjective part of the emotions
• Expressive component: Finally, the expressive component is the only one that we can control when faced with an emotion. It’s about how we behave in response to our emotions

These are the different elements that make up our emotions. So much so that depending on these three components, the emotions and feelings linked to these.

Why are emotions important?

There are many reasons why we can give a great importance of emotions Although these can be classified into basic and secondary emotions, the reality is that whatever emotion it is, it influences you in many areas of your daily life. Mainly, emotions can help us in the following aspects.

1. Motivation: The emotions They are the basis of any of the motivations that move us in our daily lives. So much so that to face all the types of feelings that these provoke, we must know how to motivate ourselves towards the positive side of any event. That is, the key is to use emotions to increase the probability of feeling those that push us towards our goals and objectives. On the other hand, these can also motivate us to suffer certain psychological pathologies such as anxiety or depression. Therefore, motivation plays a very relevant role in our list of emotions.
2. They help us avoid danger: The basic and secondary emotions They allow us to confront imminent danger. Apart from being one of the most fundamental functions of emotions, the reality is that if we do not have control of these feelings, they can manipulate the vision with which we see life. On the other hand, emotions can motivate us to act quickly and take actions that maximize our survival and success.
3. Take decisions: The emotions They play a crucial role in decision making. In this way, some research has revealed that people who have a type of brain damage may have both their ability to experience emotions and their ability to make good decisions affected. There are many situations in which we believe that our decisions are only guided by logic and rationality. But in reality, emotions play a key role in each of our decision-making.
4. They connect us with others: One of the functions of emotions It is precisely to connect with others. So much so that these cannot help us understand others and make others understand us. Each of the emotional signals we send to others allows our loved ones to help us and get even closer to us.
5. Empathy: The others also give us information about their emotions and feelings through their facial expressions. Therefore, an important part of emotions is precisely what allows us to connect on this level with our neighbors.

These may be some of the reasons why the emotions They are important in our daily lives. Having the ability to experience them and know how to manage them is vital to being able to enjoy life. In many cases we can turn to a professional psychologist to work on them. Emotions and reality are more connected than they may seem at first glance.