A.isha Geary
Professor Michelle Adkerson
19 Feb, 2021
Paper 1
Waves and Hurricanes of Emotions.
Our emotions are like the tide, constantly moving back and forth in either direction. Maybe some could describe them as pendulum. Your mood swings. Never stopping and ever changing. Our emotions are never in one place.
The world affects our emotions in many ways. By changing your surroundings, the people we speak with, the people we have, and our lives. Society changes our emotions as well by changing the way we interact with each other, and setting different standards to follow, and letting you decide what standards you follow.
According to BBC’s,
Why We Need to Be More Emotional to Save The World,” written by Ari Wallach, emotions are an untapped. Whether they’re untapped because the person feeling them is hiding them and not letting them show, or the person doesn’t truly know how they feel. A person is never truly aware of what goes on in another person’s head and heart.
Society corrupts emotional thinking immensely. Sometimes, people are out to break each other down rather than build them up, which gives people more of a reason not to show how they truly feel. Outside words often fight inside thoughts and feelings. If they’re not hiding them, they’re succumbing to them and causing heartache. Society also tends to compare people as one big collective category, without the consideration and regard that everyone is unique, and not everyone will feel the same way. As Bacon puts it in this work, The Four Idols, “… all perceptions as well of the senses as of the mind are according to the measures of the individual and not according to the measure of the universe.” (726)
Types of people or personalities that are similar may feel the same way about a situation, and may help a person who’s struggling with their emotions let things go and feel more relieved. Those who hold their emotions back may be able to tell when someone is holding theirs, as what you do yourself, you see in others. Positive emotions can lead to a positive lifestyle, and a happier life. TeensHealths' article, “The Power of Positive Emotions,” states that positive emotions can help you focus on the brighter side, and reduce the anxiety, causing you to even perform better in your daily life functions, such as tests or tasks. It also helps you get along better with other people.
Negative emotions, such as sadness, anger, fear, hatred, disgust, etc. cause problems in the world. Let’s say hypothetically for instance, you’re angry at a friend, or even a group of friends, and you decide to judge them harshly, and do or say things without thinking or do something you might regret. What you say or do emotionally without a clear head could cause a riot of protest, your friends to turn against you, hurt the friend you were initially targeting, or even turn your other friends against them and lead to bullying and other problems. Without forgetting that negative emotions can bring problems, negative emotions, although tricky, can bring positivity in the end. You can look back on negative emotions as a constructive criticism, and use them to help you know what you can do better. Think about it. As a kid, were you bullied? Did it not make you stronger and more resilient? Did it not make you look at yourself and change things you knew you could better? Did you not learn to love yourself afterwards?
Believe it or not, overly positive people can also be affected negatively as well, so it’s important to find a balance. Overly positive people tend to be also overly optimistic. So much so that it blurs reality. Overly positive or overly optimistic people tend to work their hopes up to their highest, only for them to be burned in the end, causing sadness or anger. That’s not what a person wants. Finding a balance between optimism and realism is essential according to the Canter for Optimisms’ article, “Optimism Is Realism.”
After writing this, my opinion still stands. Emotions affect us and the world in a very powerful way that’s often overlooked. Whether it be whether it be positive or negative is only up to you, how you feel, and your actions. Emotions could change someone’s life and make a big impact on someone. Emotions can also in some cases, negatively impact someone, and could possibly mean life or death. Those waves and the tide of positivity could easily become a hurricane of sadness, anger, or fear.
Works Cited
"Optimism is Realism the Centre for Optimism believes the times call for realistic and infectiously optimistic leaders." www.centreforoptimism.com. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.
Wallach, Ari. "Why we need to be more emotional to save the world." Bbc.com. 1 Mar. 2021, Accessed 1 Mar. 2021.
Gavin, Mary. "The Power of Positive Emotions." Kidshealth.org. Aug. 2018, Accessed 1 Mar. 2021.
Jacobus, Lee. A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. 11th ed., Bedford/ St. Martins, p. 726.