Extreme emotions
There are times when something happens that sparks an unexpected
emotion. These are not the usual mad, sad or glad - run of the mill type
emotions that ebb and flow in our lives. I am talking about the emotions that
register high on the richter scale and leave us wondering what happened. I'm
talking about extreme emotions. When I am up close and in extreme emotions the
world closes down. My options are limited and I am thinking about one or two
options. This is different from easy feelings where I can play with the
different aspects of a feeling. I can turn it around inside me and look at it
from a number of perspectives. It might be someone who does something that is
hurtful and I don't understand why. My ideas may be rejected by someone I
love. Sometimes it may be waking up with the nagging worry that I cannot quite
place. The extreme feeling that arises throws me into a panic. Freeze, fight
or flight. Are those the responses? That still sounds like a choice. When an
extreme feeling arises I don't feel like I have any choice. I am compelled to
react. The options are few when I am under the spell of an extreme emotion. It
is at times like these that I long for the space and time and perspective to
examine the feeling from a number of different aspects. Easy in theory. Hard
in practice. But not impossible.
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