Understanding Emotions

Mastering Emotions

Understanding Emotions

Emotional health plays a significant role in mental health and wellness, but emotions are challenging to understand and define. In broad terms, emotions are subjective internal feelings generated from our perceptions and interpretations of our experiences in life. They vary in strength and duration and can be triggered by thoughts, interactions, memories, and specific events. Emotions, like thoughts, can be neutral, or they can move us in positive or negative ways. Primary emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust are thought to be universally recognizable by others. Recent advancements in the field of emotions challenge the opinion that emotions are universally recognizable and question the view that emotions are states of being that move us in particular ways. How Emotions Are Made by Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett suggests that we construct each emotion through a unique interplay of brain, body, and culture.

Having emotions and a language to express them is a unique trait that sets humans apart. Like awareness of our thoughts, we can also develop awareness of our emotions since they are part of the whole that impacts our well-being. In this section, we will look at common emotions and discuss recent thoughts about where they come from and how we can control them.

The following list of common emotions is from Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown. As you scroll through the different emotions, notice how each one moves you positively or negatively or somewhere in between. Everyone experiences different emotions and experiences each emotion differently. The most common emotions can be arranged on a positivity-to-negativity scale from -10 to +10. Click on the emotion to bring up the definition, and (when we complete this plug-in) you will be able to take the following self-assessment to look at your emotional profile.

Notice the Definition of each Emotion.

Positive Emotions

  • Compassion: involves action and not just feeling. It is a daily practice of awareness and acceptance that each person struggles or experiences suffering, and we act in loving kindness to ourselves and others. Compassion focuses on our shared humanity and doesn’t try to fix the other person’s suffering, but understands it while still allowing them to experience it. The key is to sit with the pain without attempting to provide a solution.

  • Contentment: feels like experiencing "enoughness" and the satisfaction of needs. This can be challenging in a society that focuses on scarcity and always needs more to one day reach satisfaction. Many people confuse contentment with settling for less, but it is actually more about an awareness of having everything you need, not necessarily tossing healthy ambition to the side. Being content brings feelings of appreciation and completeness to life as a whole. It is such a powerful emotion that any negative emotional effects on heart function can potentially be reversed, and overall well-being is improved.

  • Empathy: happens when we are willing to be present and share in another person’s suffering. It helps us understand what the other person is experiencing and then echo that understanding back to them. The skill of empathy requires us also to be aware of emotions so we can hold space for someone else’s feelings while not taking them on as our own. We do not have to have the same experience as someone to be empathetic with them, but empathy does require a nonjudgmental perspective.

  • Excitement: extreme enthusiasm for current or upcoming events. The body response can be described as feeling like you’re “coming out of your skin.”

  • Gratitude: is intertwined with many of the most helpful emotions, like joy and contentment, so the feeling can seem similar and also full of appreciation. However, gratitude is more focused on seeing the value in something and appreciating the things in life that provide meaning and connection. The proof of gratitude’s positive effects on our minds, bodies, and emotions is massive across the field of research. Fostering a daily practice of gratitude and seeing the value in things will produce remarkable benefits for the human experience.

  • Guilt: the feeling of falling short of the expectations and standards we set for ourselves. Guilt turns our attention to what we perceive to have done wrong and what action we can take to make it right. It appears when our actions or lack of action are inconsistent with our values. Guilt is more empowering when connected with empathy and apologizing instead of shame, aggression, or depression.

  • Happiness: found to be more tied to heredity than most people realize. However, it is still related to pleasures from the external environment and situations a person is currently experiencing. This causes it to be a less intense but stable, long-lasting emotion with little contribution to deeper, more satisfying experiences, even though it is considered a positive emotion. Happiness is addressed in depth in the Happiness section of this site.

  • Humility: brings with it an honest perception of what we have to offer, including strengths, weaknesses, and areas we need to grow in, which is the recipe for grounded confidence. Humility consists of openness to learn new things; however, it isn’t downplaying ourselves or allowing others to walk all over us, but instead having a curiosity about new information and a willingness to adjust our ideas if necessary.

  • Joy: thought to be the most vulnerable human emotion causing expansion of our minds. It’s a freeing, internal experience of intense, deep spiritual connection, pleasure, and appreciation that can arise unexpectedly with minimal effort of our own. This is such a powerful emotion that using language to articulate the phenomenon of joy has proven to be a challenge within our American culture. Joy is very closely connected to gratitude, and research has shown together, they create a positive upward spiral.

  • Love: the first thing we think of when referring to emotions of the heart. Some would debate whether it is an actual emotion, but based on responses from the general public, love is, in fact, an emotion and one we need more of, first for ourselves and others... [Love] arises from an intention to show up as our own authentic selves and to connect with someone also sharing from that same place of vulnerability. With that in mind, it’s important to note that love grows when it is reciprocated between people. Nurturing it in a relationship can require many other emotions and actions like trust, risk, respect, kindness, and commitment.

  • Pride: what we feel when our accomplishments and efforts deserve celebration. It is pleasurable and is accompanied by positive self-worth, which can be extremely healthy. Pride can also be shared as a familial feeling for others’ accomplishments. The negative context of pride that people refer to is actually a feeling known as hubris, but not authentic pride.

  • Vulnerability: uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure in situations like talking about our feelings, receiving feedback, apologizing when we are wrong, or even starting a business.

  • Suprise is an emotional response characterized by a sudden or unexpected event or experience that deviates from one’s anticipation or prediction. It often involves a sense of astonishment, disbelief, or a combination of various emotions such as joy, fear, or excitement. Surprise can range from small, pleasant gestures to significant, unforeseen changes in circumstances.

Notice that the most common emotions tend to be more negative than positive, but we can change that.

Picture: an emotion wheel showing more possible emotions

Negative Emotions

  • Anger: a very intense emotion that causes us to take action when we think we have been wronged, a situation is unfair, or if the outcome we desired in a situation was thwarted. Anger is easier to distinguish from frustration because, at the point of anger, we feel like we can do something about a situation. It has a very wide spectrum of intensity, from annoyance to rage. When it arises, we can physically feel it activate our nervous system responses and influence our thoughts or behaviors.

    While some research maintains that anger is a primary emotion of its own, Brown argues that her research shows anger is simply an easy-to-label emotion, with underlying causes from many other less understood and masked emotions like fear, shame, jealousy, grief, etc. Internalizing anger can cause sickness and exhaustion, but continuous externalizing can create separation between us and others. Therefore, it is advised to fully experience this emotion as we do others and avoid denying our pain to use it to uncover the cause and create change if necessary.

  • Anxiety: feelings of mental pressure based on future orientation and not any actual present concerns that can have intense physiological effects.

  • Contempt: similar to anger but is directed in a way that demeans the person on the receiving end by assuming they are incapable of change and not worthy of anyone’s time or energy. The person projecting contempt onto someone usually tries to feel better about themselves due to their inadequacy or shame. A contemptuous person speaks insults and uses mental abuse to harm another person’s sense of self. Related to relationships, substantial research shows contempt is considered one of the major predictors of divorce.

  • Disappointment: the feeling of hurt experienced when expectations go unmet. The intensity of disappointment is directly related to the magnitude of what was expected. Expectations are detailed, painted pictures of what things will look like or how they will go, but the outcomes could be out of our control and dependent on others. When the outcomes don’t play out how we desire, the pain of disappointment shows up, sometimes with shame and anger.

  • Discouragement: felt when things do not go as planned, but it is accompanied by a feeling of losing the motivation, confidence, or enthusiasm to keep putting forth effort.

  • Embarrassment: lasts only a few minutes as discomfort in our self-conscious when we think we are exposed, feel flustered, or appear clumsy in front of others. It tends to be related to messing up in accordance with social norms, especially for those who are more concerned with those norms.

  • Envy: entails feeling like we lack something another person possesses and wanting it for ourselves. It isn’t always accompanied by hostility, but it is possible.

  • Fear: a present-oriented feeling, as opposed to anxiety’s future orientation, and is initiated by perceived threats. Even though short-lived, it shows up intensely and quickly in the body as a fight, flight, or freeze response, sometimes before we notice an external threat.

  • Flooding: similar to overwhelm(ed), but is mostly related to a conflict or interaction with someone that causes either shut down or attack in the person experiencing it. When emotional flooding occurs, resolution is virtually impossible due to the overwhelming feeling of danger the person may be experiencing. Arguments, hard conversations, feedback, or personal attacks contribute to this feeling. It is best to take a break from the situation when this happens and return when the mind and body have calmed down.

  • Hate: another summation of many emotions such as repulsion, disgust, anger, fear, and contempt rolled into one. It tends to be felt toward others when there is minimal contact or interaction between us and the object of our hatred since it is much more difficult to hate people in close proximity. It is an emotion that creates a false connection when people who hate similar things find belonging in their shared beliefs. Hate comes with the perception that an individual or group is intentionally evil and will never change.

  • Hopelessness: a place our emotions go when we don’t believe we can change our circumstances and instead blame ourselves. Negative thought patterns, not knowing what we want, and unfortunate life events contribute to these feelings, and they are closely related to suicide potential. It feels like we can’t count on ourselves to accomplish what we want to, and when we experience failure, a reset seems impossible.

  • Hubris: commonly referred to incorrectly as pride in a negative connotation, tends to be more related to having a desire for dominance through force and aggression. Hubris is an inflated perception of the self’s innate abilities, and its intensity aligns with corresponding levels of narcissism and tendencies of shame. Interestingly, like pride, hubris feels good, but it is rooted in superiority that is not concerned with social acceptance or how others perceive its behavior.

  • Jealousy: isn’t so much an emotion as it is a thought, based on fear, anger, or sadness, that we might lose a relationship or a part of a relationship we value. This threat of loss could be associated with another person or a thing, like an activity that “steals” a loved one’s attention. Jealousy can appear in any relationship, from siblings or romantic partners to friends or coworkers.

  • Overwhelmed: when our emotions outrun our brain and body’s ability to keep up or understand what’s happening.

  • Regret: similar feelings to disappointment, but it stems from the pain of believing the undesired outcome of our expectations was based on our decisions, actions, or lack of action. It is a powerful emotion that can be uncomfortable if accompanied by self-blame or guilt.

  • Resentment: contains feelings of frustration, judgment, anger, and a “better than” perception based on a personal perception of unfairness.

  • Shame: It feels like being unworthy of love and connection. It is a self-focused emotion with the belief that we are bad and don’t belong. Secrecy, silence, and judgment are the foundations for this painful social emotion. Shame is a universal feeling experienced by everyone except for individuals with no empathy or connection. On the same note, empathy and self-compassion are healing tools for shame.

  • Stressed: when we feel our demands exceed our ability to handle them.

  • Sympathy: can cause a disconnection between people because the person operating in sympathy is keeping themselves at a safe distance and removed from the other person’s experience or suffering. It is the opposite of empathy. Sympathy says, “I feel sorry for you” from here, where things like that do not happen to me. Sympathy leaves the “me too” out of the human experience.

Emotions arise when something happens that we like or dislike or when we interpret or make meaning of an event in our thoughts. Our thoughts and perceptions have positive or negative influences on the state of our nervous system and the chemistry we are experiencing at any moment and in turn, our chemistry affects our thoughts and emotions. We literally feel this as energy-in-motion.

Emotional reactions typically originate somewhere in the unconscious brain about a quarter of a second before you become aware of them (in the conscious brain). Willpower cannot change this fact. The way you feel right now is largely because of what you have been thinking and doing up until this point. It’s all connected—thoughts and perceptions change your chemistry to influence your emotions at any point, which impacts your overall emotional state.

How Emotions Take Control

Many factors influence emotions, for example, genetics, brain chemistry, hormones, physical health, sleep, fatigue, hunger, diet, exercise, trauma, the people around us, living conditions, levels of connection of support from others, and our unique history. All of these and many other cultural factors interact, and everyone’s experience in life is different. However, we are all similar, and the chemistry and neurology that we experience inside can be understood separately from the various ways in which these systems are triggered.

Where Do Emotions Come From?

Emotions are essentially biological adaptations designed to support functioning. Each emotion has a physiological signature—a cocktail of chemicals consisting of various combinations of hormones, neurotransmitters, and endorphins. A feeling of safety activates a specific part of the nervous system and a feeling of danger or threat calls into action a different part of the nervous system.

We all exist as a form of energy, when we feel emotions about something our energy begins to move. Energy exists in the body and the brain, but it can move outward into the environment where it is shared with others. Energy is neither created nor destroyed.  We all have a certain energy, a fact that does not change, yet we have constantly changing emotional experiences. When we get in touch with that which never changes, the essence or energy that is us, we can begin to look at and free ourselves from the thoughts and experiences that hold us back or create conflict.  This freedom allows us to let go of fears, desires, worries, or whatever is holding us back from enjoying life. Emotions go up and down, all around, but they are not us, they are natural internal fluctuations of our energy-in-motion.

Megan K. Stack Posted on Instagram: At bedtime, the 8yo told me his teacher said: “Think of your mind like a pond full of fish and each fish is a feeling. Try to be the pond and not the fish.” And all I can say is primary school has significantly improved.

Research suggests that the lifecycle of a feeling is only about 90 seconds, yet, when we ignore or “stuff emotions inside” or ruminate, we end up keeping that feeling alive for minutes, hours, days, or even years.

Thoughts influence emotions but thoughts, feelings, and emotions are all a little different. Feelings are more like sensory information felt throughout the body. Emotions are more like stories we tell ourselves or the meaning we make about these feelings. Sometimes, you must lean into feelings, accept them, and breathe through them. Acceptance sets you up to let them go, otherwise, they can hang around and build up insude.

Your body is constantly experiencing a complex cocktail of endorphins, neuromodulators, neurotransmitters, hormones, and pheromones that powerfully influence the subjective experience or how you “feel” at any time. Many things can throw you out of balance, as the body's chemistry constantly changes. It is normal to have up-and-down emotions, and it is important to learn to ride the waves without panicking when things do not feel right.

The Biological Side of Emotions

Science is constantly changing our understanding of emotions. Emotions were once thought to be hardwired, and having more or less of an emotion was related to biochemistry or neurology in a particular brain area. This argued that when people experience a chronic poor mood, this signals a chemical or neurological imbalance in the brain that must be addressed medically or physically.

When researchers tried to map specific emotions with specific brain areas, they found that emotions were more complex, and each emotion involves activity in many different and diverse areas of the brain and body. Each emotion is more likely a specific network of neurons that fire and, over time, wire together. Neurochemicals like serotonin are involved in the regulation of mood, and medicines that affect serotonin have been helpful for many people—but not everyone. Other chemicals like oxytocin are involved in social bonding and attachment, dopamine plays a role in attention and foraging, and cortisol is involved in the stress response, but all of this chemistry is constantly changing. Emotions and emotional states are heavily influenced by many factors such as diet, sleep, exercise, breathing, health, and genetics.

Emotions are more like reactive patterns rather than fixed physical or neurological conditions or states of being. They are like the meaning the conscious mind makes about the reactions that are occurring as we naturally adapt to the events we experience. They are a lot like predictions made in the brain about what is or is not happening. If specific emotions are repeated or practiced often, they develop into a pattern or condition, and how we interpret or make sense of them impacts how much we feel an emotion and how often they occur.

Some emotions may be hardwired and passed down genetically, like the baby who reacts to pleasant sounds, certain types of touch, or a smile. These reflexive neurological responses are observed well before language skills. As the brain develops, emotions become more complicated with more nuances. Over time, our brain becomes a great predictor of future performance, a skill essential for survival. Emotions help us make predictions about what is happening, what is going to happen, and how we think we should respond. These predictions are based on our memory of previous experiences, and their purpose is to help us make meaning out of our experiences and help us survive. Emotions are generated by the brain as we cope with life experiences and try to predict or anticipate our needs and generate options. This view suggests that we create our own emotions, but it also means that we can change and create new or different emotions.

The Main Players in the Neurochemistry of Emotion

Strategies or activities that improve mood are strongly related to the levels of happy vs. not-so-happy chemicals in our bodies. Happy chemistry can be generated by doing things as simple as exercising, meditating, or spending more time in nature each day. These activities increase natural feel-good compounds, which influence mood and behavior. We need to learn about them and about stress hormones to help our body produce more or less of these when needed. This may seem like a lot of chemistry, but these compounds can be your best or worst friends, so it‘s good to get to know a little bit about them.

  • Oxytocin, known as the love hormone, is stored, and released from the pituitary gland. It is linked to feelings of depression when levels are low.  Oxytocin binds receptors in many different places, so is associated with social recognition, pair bonding, and honesty.  Oxytocin was originally thought to be primarily associated with pregnancy, labor, childbirth, and breastfeeding but it is also associated with physical touch sexuality, and bonding. When people see themselves as being closely bonded, oxytocin increases. The smell of the baby, physical contact, a picture of your partner, and feelings of trust kinship, and support are all associated with higher oxytocin levels. Higher oxytocin can even cause synchronization of physiological responses. It's known as hormonal glue and it is powerful in facilitating relationships. Studies also show increased receptor activity for oxytocin, associated with an increased amount of social media participation.

    Good ways to increase oxytocin are through pleasant physical exercise or a big hug. Other Ways to Increase Oxytocin include:

    o   Doing Something for someone else

    o   Hugging a pet or playing with an animal

    o   Holding hands, cuddling, or looking into another person’s eyes

    o   Yoga 

    o   Love and Kindness Meditation or notes to friends or loved ones.

    o   Massage or self-massage of shoulders and temples

    o   Socializing with friends

    o   Chamomile Tea, Vitamin C, Sunshine, Warmth

    o   Oxytocin is available as a nasal spray

    Some people speculate that reduced oxytocin may be associated with Autism.

    There's a difference between emotional empathy and cognitive empathy. Emotional empathy involves the synchronization of heart rate and internal states. Cognitive empathy involves agreeing and understanding. Conceptually. Both types of empathy are important but there are huge differences between people in how they relate to others.

Oxytocin, The Love Hormone

Dopamine, Motivation, and Drive

  • Dopamine is more of a Neuromodulator (different than a neurotransmitter) – it influences the communication of many neurons at once. Dopamine release in the brain can be local or broad.  Neurons that release dopamine also release glutamate, improving pleasure, motivation, excitement, and reward. Dopamine is not just about pleasure: it’s the universal currency of foraging and seeking things that will provide sustenance and pleasure in the short term and extend life in the long term.  Dopamine causes us to crave and pursue things outside of ourselves.

    Dopamine is stimulated/released when we expect or hope something will happen or when we are highly motivated to pursue something.

    Dopamine peaks should not occur too often, it is better to vary or level out how much dopamine you experience with an activity over time. Vary intensity and uncertainty keep you motivated and engaged:

    If you would like to continue activities over time, pay attention to how much dopamine they give you and adjust your effort accordingly.

    To modulate dopamine, do things differently, like doing something alone that you usually would do in a group or change up routines to add novelty.

    If you do something that releases huge levels of dopamine, pleasure drops afterward because you have relatively less dopamine after the drop, so try to keep dopamine levels constant or steady.

    Dopamine controls the perception of time. When we engage in an activity for the sole purpose of reward, time will feel longer because we are not releasing dopamine during the effort as much as when we get the reward. It is better to access reward from the process and associate dopamine release from conflict, challenge, and effort instead of goal achievement – convince yourself the effort part is the good part (e.g., intermittent fasting)

    We all have a dopamine setpoint: if we overly participate in dopamine-stimulating activities, eventually, we won’t experience the same joy from those behaviors.

    Dopamine can improve your mood, attention, and heart rate, but like everything else, it is best to keep levels moderated.

    Given its association with motivation, increasing your dopamine level can be as simple as setting a goal and completing it.

     Subjective experiences increase dopamine depending on enjoyment, but things like chocolate, physical touching and holding, nicotine, and stimulants universally increase dopamine.  The key is to not expect or chase high dopamine levels through unhealthy activity levels.  

    Meditation can also boost this motivation and pleasure-seeking molecule.

    Other ways to increase dopamine include:

    Completing a task

    Physical contact is like a big hug.

    Listening to music

    Spending 30 minutes a day in the sunshine

    Physical Activity: Exercise will be different depending on how much you enjoy the exercise – if you enjoy, exercise will increase dopamine 2x above baseline)

    Good night’s sleep

    Chocolate will increase dopamine by 1.5x

    Nicotine (when smoked) increases dopamine by 2.5x

    Sex (pursuit and act) increases dopamine 2x

    Amphetamine increases dopamine 10x

    Close social connections that release oxytocin have been found to trigger dopamine release

    Take a cold shower. Cold plunge (water temperature will depend on cold adaptation) can boost dopamine up to 2.5x above baseline – and is sustained for up to three hours post-exposure!

    Drink green tea

    Deep breathing

    Meditation

    Create art like painting, writing, photography, or cooking

    Eat fruit to increase tyrosine

    Doing something new and interesting

    Note: Epinephrine and adrenaline are manufactured from dopamine.

Serotonin, The Feel Good Neurotransmitter

  • Serotonin: Improves mood, sleep, and digestion. Serotonin is known as a feel-good chemical and can help stabilize your mood and make you feel more calm, focused, and happy.  Even though it's a neurotransmitter, much of your body’s serotonin is stored in the lining of your intestines before being released into the bloodstream. Increasing the intake of foods containing tryptophan such as salmon, eggs, cheese, or nuts can help improve serotonin levels. Exercising and healthy exposure to the sun is also known to build serotonin and enhance overall mood. The best ways to increase serotonin include:

    o   Spend 5 minutes in nature

    o   15 to 20 minutes in the sunshine

    o   Eat bananas for the amino acid tryptophan

    o   20 to 30 minutes of exercise each day

    o   Smell lemon or lavender essential oils

    o   Recall pleasant positive memories

    o   Get a massage

    o   Laugh by calling a funny friend or watching a comedy

    o   Practice gratitude

    o   Supplement with probiotics to increase tryptophan

    o   Eat good carbohydrates like apples sweet potatoes and carrots

    o   Listen to music

    o   Dance to music

    o   5 to 10 minutes of mindfulness every day.

  • GABA is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter of the CNC, it helps calm the nervous system and reduces anxiety. Benzodiazepines (Benzos) such as Klonopin, Xanax, and Ativan as well as alcohol increase the effect of GABA and this usually feels great, like a warm hug or that the world suddenly becomes a friendly wonderful place and you experience a soothing sense of calm. Unfortunately, this effect is short-lived because our body will turn down the effect that GABA has on receptors, and we are left in a condition where GABA is no longer as effective (even if we have normal amounts of GABA).  Brief or short-term use of these drugs can be helpful, but using them consistently over time (several months) will increase dependency, dysregulate our GABA system, and create a state of withdrawal that is much worse than the anxiety they help with initially. In response to Benzos and alcohol, our body downregulates GABA receptor activity disrupting its effectiveness, which as these drugs wear off, increases stress, and feelings of fear and anxiety as well as disrupts sleep, and ultimately creates more of a need for the drugs. GABA makes us feel good, safe and that everything is ok, but when GABA is downregulated, we feel the opposite, that the world is not ok and we are in danger which heightens our state of anxiety.

    GABA is made from an amino acid known as glutamate so eating foods rich in good glutamic acid can increase the level of GABA in the brain. Natural strategies to increase GABA include:

    Healthy Exercise Nutrition and Sleep

    Eating foods containing glutamic acids like soy proteins, nuts citrus green tea or spinach.

    Practice yoga

    Breath Work

    Adding GABA-inducing supplements  like magnesium or B6 to your routine

    Avoiding alcohol improves the effects of GABA

    Meditating and practicing mindfulness

    It is also important to remember to be mindful of stimulants like caffeine and nicotine and to be careful about highly stressful social media, news, or television exposures. 

      text goes here

  • Adrenaline and cortisol naturally fluctuate during the day.  Adrenaline is associated with excitement and activation, whereas cortisol is more associated with threat or danger. Cortisol increases blood sugar levels and suppresses the immune response, changing how we metabolize fat, carbohydrates, and proteins. Cortisol can have negative effects on the body, such as weight gain, mood disorders, and immune function. Its primary function is to help the body cope with stress, but cortisol also increases heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, and prolonged exposure to high levels of cortisol can have many negative effects on health.

    Adrenaline is both a hormone and a neurotransmitter. It is produced by the adrenal gland and secreted into the bloodstream in response to stress or danger. Adrenaline also increases heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration. As a neurotransmitter, adrenaline is known as epinephrine and is involved in transmitting signals between nerve cells.

    Cortisol levels are highest in the morning and lowest at night. Higher levels of cortisol in the morning help us wake up. Chronic stress and higher levels of cortisol disrupt the daily cycle of cortisol. Higher levels of cortisol influence the body in many ways, one of which is to increase activation of the brain regions involved in the regulation of emotions and mood to ensure safety so that these areas of the brain become even more hypervigilant. Higher levels of cortisol also disrupt sleep which is critical in regulating your sleep-wake system.  Cortisol also promotes the synthesis of glucose from proteins to make more glucose available as fuel in response to stressful situations. Cortisol also increases abdominal fat and increases cravings for food, especially carbohydrates (sugars). This contributes to the vicious cycle of stress and overeating (especially unhealthy foods), which creates more stress and more overeating, etc. Reducing chronic activation of the adrenal glands and lowering cortisol output helps to break this vicious cycle.

What is the Difference Between Emotions and Mood States?

There is a difference between mood states and your current emotions. Over time, positive emotions build personal resources and increase well-being, while a high frequency of negative emotions contributes to negative mood states.

Neurons that fire together wire together. Positive or negative mood states have associated patterns or networks of neurons that fire together and become wired together.

What we feel at any time is interpreted relative to past experiences and future predictions. When we experience a trigger—a familiar environmental situation—we remember the feeling state and the label or story we attached to it. As patterns repeat often, particular emotions can become chronic and influence our mood state.

In simple terms, experiencing happy, grateful, joyous daily moments will create larger, stronger, and more positive neural networks, leading to a more positive mood state. Unfortunately, negative mood states work the same way.

Whatever you practice grows stronger. It is important to find ways to actively practice a variety of helpful strategies every day. Positive daily emotions lead to a more positive overall mood state, which supports more positive emotions, and the cycle continues.

To improve your mood state, find a way To Engage More Positively With Life. Our next page on Happiness and Joy is a good place to begin.

Material Taken From:

Brenee Brown, Atlas of the Heart

How Emotions Are Made, Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett

Andrew Huberman,

The Huberman Lab