Good and bad emotions
Emotions are often divided into two groups: "good" (joy, delight, satisfaction, inspiration, gratitude) and "bad" (anger, sadness, disappointment, shame, resentment). It’s true that when we experience positive emotions, we feel good, and when we experience negative ones, we feel bad. But does this mean that some emotions are good and useful, while others are bad and harmful?
Emotions in and of themselves are neither bad nor good - that is just the meaning we humans give them. Emotions in their purest form are indicators that reflect our state, reactions to certain events. Emotions help us to better understand ourselves and the world around us.
Avoiding bad emotions
Emotions have biological implications, so we cannot completely control them. But we can choose how to treat them.
When we call certain emotions bad, we try to avoid them - as with anything bad. But avoiding suffering, pain, and fear will not work because these are necessarily present in everyone's life from time to time. If we treat certain emotions negatively, it will become more difficult to experience them; we will begin to worry, fear that they will appear, try not to notice them in ourselves and finally, suppress them. And suppressing emotions is very harmful to our psychological well-being, because nothing we experience simply disappears.
Why shouldn't we suppress emotions?
Every emotion must find a way out: through words, tears, laughter, screaming or hitting a pillow. By leaving emotions inside of ourselves, driving them into a far corner, we don't get rid of them, but contribute to their accumulation. And the more of them inside, the more painful and difficult it is for us to live. Moreover, if you neglect emotions for too long, at some point, illnesses and pains that have come from nowhere may appear.
Fear, anger, and resentment are just emotions. Sometimes they have a better chance of influencing us and taking control of our lives. However, we can learn to live in peace with these emotions if we practice enough patience and effort. The ability to properly live and give vent to emotions is a kind of emotional hygiene, which is one of the most important factors in a happy life.
