What is an emotion?
An emotion is your brain’s reaction to a real or imagined situation. It’s something that happens automatically and that you can’t help. You can’t avoid it.
What do emotions do?
Emotions are there to tell you whether the thing that is happening is good or bad for your survival and wellbeing. If you’re faced with a situation that puts your safety or wellbeing at risk, your emotions will trigger an impulse to get away
Quick tip
You shouldn’t always react based on your first impulse. It’s better to stop for a minute and think than to act impulsively based on your emotions. When you are experiencing an emotion, ask yourself: “Should I listen to what my emotion is telling me to do?”
Real situation
You are face-to-face with a dangerous animal. You feel scared and you feel the need to get away from the animal. Running away is a great way of ensuring your survival when facing a real danger.
Imagined situation
You imagine that a burglar is coming into your house in the middle of the night. You feel anxious and you feel the need to run away. But because the danger isn’t real, there’s no need to run away.
There’s nothing wrong with having emotions!
There’s nothing at all wrong with experiencing emotions or being emotional. All emotions are acceptable. However, there are good and bad ways to react to them. It’s completely normal that you experience different emotions to your friends when faced with the same situation. Everyone reacts in their own way.
How many different emotions are there?
There are loads! This table presents the main emotions
What happens when you experience an emotion?
You will have impulses
You might want to cry, run away, scream, go off on your own, kick and hit, etc.
You will have physical sensations
You might feel cold, hot, get a stomach ache, get the shakes, etc
You will have thoughts
You might think, “it’s not fair,” “I’m going to fail,” “my friends don’t like me anymore,” etc.
Example
Your best friend is moving to a new town or city and you feel sad. This is what might happen:
Impulses
You might want to cry, run away, scream, go off on your own, kick and hit, etc.
Physical sensations
You might feel cold, hot, get a stomach ache, get the shakes, etc
Thoughts
You might think, “it’s not fair,” “I’m going to fail,” “my friends don’t like me anymore,” etc.
