E-motion: Energy In Motion, What Is It? How Can I Use It?

We all struggle with emotions, partly because we don't know how to cope with them and partly because society has made emotions seem bad. For years people have labeled showing emotions as weak.

I'm sure, like many of us, you have had your share of "Don't cry, nothing happened", "Stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about", "You're so sensitive, I can't even tell you anything" or something along those lines. That instead of pulling you up, despite the best of intentions, actually brings you down, especially those phrases that are passive-aggressive attacks.

Despite this, there have been some groups surfacing that advocate to change people's negative mindset about feelings and the way they deal with said emotions due to this negativity and subsequent suppression of feelings to avoid getting criticized, ridiculed, or humiliated. 

This tug of war has kept us from knowing what emotions truly are and how we can manage them without pushing them down and burying them inside us. A recipe that, sooner or later leads us to a psychologist, therapist, or psychiatrist.

The good news is that we can learn how to deal with our emotions in positive ways not only to prevent bad things from happening but also to get to know ourselves better. That being said if you need the help of a professional, don't hesitate to go to one. 

This article is meant as education only and it is not intended to be used for anything other than that. Consult your healthcare professional for help and counsel. 

But first, what are emotions truly? Let's find out. 

What are emotions?

According to psychology, emotions are states of feeling that are characterized by having physical and mental changes that subsequently prompt certain thought patterns and actions in response to the specific emotional state or the stimuli that triggered this state. 

In short, emotions are feelings that make people have specific thoughts and actions or behaviors according to what they are feeling.

Depending on the emotion you are feeling your body creates hormones and chemical substances that give the brain and body signals. For example, when feeling happiness your body may create serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins. If you are stressed or angry your body can create cortisol, non-adrenaline, and adrenaline; so on and so forth.

Now, due to the, sometimes, violent changes that emotions like anger, sadness, and rage cause, people over the years have seen emotions as a nuisance, bothersome, and a thing that they would want to make disappear as soon as possible. 

While it is understandable to want to try to temper or even control emotions, as they can blind people to what is around them if they let themselves be overcome by emotions, the right way to manage emotions is not by suppressing or shutting them down like previously thought and taught.

Emotions are energy

You see, recent studies have determined that emotions are actually energy, or in this case energy in motion. 

Energy cannot be destroyed or created, it can only be transformed. And while energy can be bottled up, eventually, too much energy in a tight space would explode and be released forcefully.

When energy is released this suddenly it is bound to have catastrophic consequences. Think of a volcano that has been storing up energy and lava for thousands of years and suddenly erupts. Its eruption is powerful and destructive, isn't it?

Humans have similar responses to that of a volcano erupting, although, humans have the ability to either direct this energy outwards, creating violent interactions with others (anger) or direct the energy inwards also creating violent interactions with oneself (sadness, depression).

Sudden bursts of emotion aren't solely for negative emotions, it could also happen with positive emotions such as happiness, excitement, and joy. Though, normally these outbursts are milder than the outbursts caused by too much-suppressed energy. 

For this reason, it is better to learn how to express and release this energy in motion healthily rather than suppress or ignore it. As much as you try you won't be able to get rid of your feelings because humans are emotional beings.

What you can do instead is find ways to release these emotions. Some things you can do to release these emotions (energies) are shadow work, exercise, journaling, talking to a friend, incorporate movement, stretch, etc.

Observing and sitting with your emotions is also a good way to release them. Sitting with yourself is a sure way to discovering the source of your emotional triggers and yourself as well. 

We are more emotional than rational 

Research on the brain has revealed that the emotional part of the brain has more connections to the rational part of the brain than the rational brain has to the emotional brain.

Despite popular belief or the desire for it to be so, humans are more emotional than rational, even when it comes to the brain. 

Your heart thinks

Besides finding out that the brain is more emotional than rational, separate studies conducted in 1991 by Dr. Armour, found that the heart has its own nervous system.

Your heart can think on its own and separately from the brain. The heart was also found to be sending more messages to the brain than the brain to the heart. 

Dr. Armour's study concluded that the heart may be the actual key moderator of pain and emotions and not the brain as previously thought. 

It seems that the belief that the heart is the source of emotions, wisdom, and desire may be true after all. 

Energy moves in spirals

Another study called Upward Spirals of Positive Emotions Counter Downward Spirals or Negativity: Insights from the Broaden-and-Build Theory and Affective Neuroscience on The Treatment of Emotion Dysfunctions and Deficits in Psychopathology, has described the energies of emotions as upwards or downward spirals. 

The phrase 'upwards spirals' of energies is used to describe positive emotions, while the phrase 'downward spirals' is used to describe negative emotions. 

In the study, it was found that positive emotions or upward spirals of energies, although transient, had a long-lasting effect. On the other hand, negative emotions were felt longer but only had a lasting effect if the person dwelled too long in the emotion. 

Creating upwards spirals of energy (positive emotions) can help counter the downwards spirals of energy (negative emotions), especially since the upwards spirals move faster than the downwards spirals.

In fact, other research has shown that thinking about things that a person is grateful for and feeling that gratefulness in the midst of a panic attack can shorten the length of and even stop the panic attack altogether. 

In psychology and spiritualism, there is also a technique used for some types of traumas, where the person is asked to think about the event and then asked to slowly change it into something positive over the span of a few days. The results have been that the person doing the exercise has felt better and has been able to move past the trauma. 

But, what does this all mean?

First of all, let's remember that you can't run away from your feelings. Your brain is more emotional than rational and your heart has a mind of its own so you are basically more emotional than you have been previously led to believe.

Second and with the fact that you are more feeling that rationale if you suppress your feelings you run the risk of unconsciously acting out or bursting at any given moment. 

But, now that we know that emotions are energy in motion we can use that to our advantage to manage our feelings.

We can become alchemists of emotional states by introducing a positive feeling into a negative one, changing a difficult memory to a positive one, even slowly changing a previously negative feeling on a certain topic or object into a positive one by learning more about it and changing perspectives. 

We even have the power to lessen or even stop panic attacks with gratitude. 

So, despite what you may think or what other people tell you emotions are important and can help you heal or help you fall, the decision is yours.