In recent years we have experienced the rise of currents that defend tooth and nail everything that is related to positivism or happiness. However, this “good vibes” is far from people’s reality and can even be frustrating.
The truth is that negative emotions are also important, and although it is always obvious to us, they can provide us with a large number of benefits. Next, we will talk about them and how they can help us.
Traditionally, society has taught us to think that negative emotions and feelings cannot bring us any benefit and that they only give us moments of sadness, frustration, anxiety or fear, as well as a large amount of tears that are perceived as useless.
However, negative emotions are necessary. Achieving mental balance is only possible if we experience all types of emotions. The moment we begin to repress any feeling that is unpleasant to us, we make the mistake of not fully developing as people on a psychological level.
The living of different experiences in which all types of emotions appear, they shape us as people and help us grow completely; This being the first and most important benefit of negative emotions.
Obviously, if we settle into these psychological states, or let them invade our minds on a daily basis, we could run the risk of developing some type of psychological disorder. However, experienced naturally they are essential to maintain our mental balance.
The need for wealth of experiences
If we only experience positive emotions or experiences, if we never let some negative feelings or feelings associated with suffering emerge, we could never become complete and complete people. frustration would take over.
In the same way, without negative emotions we would not give any value to all those positive experiences or feelings and, in the same way, we would not be able to differentiate between what is good or what is bad in our life.
Therefore, it is necessary to assimilate that we do not have the obligation to always feel happy, but rather to we must accept our feelings whether they are positive or negative. This can be tremendously complicated, since we are not used to facing them, either out of fear or comfort.
What benefits do negative emotions bring us?
Although it may sometimes be difficult to believe, if we manage our emotions well, experiencing negative feelings or experiencing moments of affliction provides us with mental balance, as well as knowledge about ourselves and skills to resolve and cope more easily with future unpleasant situations.
In general, the main benefits that negative emotions bring us are mental balance and experience. Furthermore, each of the negative emotions can provide us with a series of much more specific skills.
1. Mental or emotional balance
As mentioned previously, the main benefit of experiencing negative emotions is to achieve or maintain mental stability or balance which we will not achieve if we repress them.
Emotional balance is essential to experience inner calm, improve our self-esteem and live life fully; and this, obviously, includes negative emotions.
Of course, each emotion has its specific moment and opportunity to appear, and that is when we must allow ourselves to experience it. If we do not let them emerge, they will remain latent within us and will end up appearing at the least opportune moment.
If one day we wake up on the wrong foot and feel in a bad mood, or some situation occurs that makes us sad and we feel like crying, we should not repress these emotions. We have to be able to experience them and let them flow, so that they pass by and we can feel completely good again.
However, although we cannot feel guilty for the emotions we experience, the acts or behaviors we carry out guided by them are our responsibility. That is, we should not hide behind them to do whatever we want.
Finally, one of the keys to achieving mental balance is forget about what society imposes on us living and finding our own balance between positive and negative emotions.
2. Skills and experience
Just like the experience that all types of situations give us, the experience of negative emotions also provides us with a series of skills and knowledge that will help us to face future complications in a more effective way and with less emotional intensity.
Just as we learn to relate to other people, the appearance and experience of negative emotions teach us to deal with them and manage them correctly in future circumstances.
It is useless to want to experience only one type of emotion, whether positive or negative, since the rest will end up appearing sooner or later and its containment only deprives us of the possibility of learning from all types of feelings.
Advantages of some negative emotions
In the previous point it was already mentioned that there is a specific series of emotions or feelings, traditionally described as negative that, well managed and experienced in an effective way, can provide us with a series of skills or abilities that are really useful to face day-to-day situations. .
1. Sadness
Sadness is a common and basic emotion. Experiencing feelings of sadness is natural since there are countless factors that can turn a happy day into a sad one.
If we do not let it settle in us and remain longer than necessary, sadness is very useful in the development of problem solving.
However, we must be cautious, since if we let it flow for too long it can affect our self-esteem or turn into a depressive condition.
2. Anger
Various studies have found indications that the feeling of anger is a motivator of analytical thinking, which helps us think more rationally. It is necessary to specify that this refers to the emotion of anger, which not to be confused with anger with which quite the opposite occurs.
A poorly managed feeling of anger can end up turning into rage; and while anger helps us release tension, anger increases this emotional and mental tension.
3. Embarrassment or shyness
Although, a priori, shame is not considered an essential emotion or with positive or negative overtones, it is true that some people do not consider it beneficial.
However, thanks to feelings of shyness we better analyze how we relate and interact with other people being a little more introspective and helping us get to know each other a little better.
4. Fear or worry
Fear is an adaptive reaction that helps us stay alert in the face of danger. A sense of fear that is rational and proportionate to the context around us can help us maintain perspective about what surrounds us.
However, when this fear becomes disproportionate or irrational, it can turn into anxiety or one of the conditions associated with it, so, like the rest of the emotions, the key is not to let them dominate us.
5. Disgust
The sensation or feeling of disgust It helps us maintain our health, both physically and emotionally since it makes it easier for us to distance ourselves from what may be harmful or harmful to us.
