The Emotion Machine

When talking about our minds, we have a tendency to take complicated processes and treat them as simplified things. For example, we say we want “happiness” or “confidence” or “motivation” but how do we know when we really have them?

These things aren’t something you can see, hear, touch, taste, or smell, they aren’t something you can buy at a store, and they aren’t something you can carry around with you in your pocket wherever you go.

So what do we mean when we talk about “happiness,” “confidence,” “motivation,” or other aspects of our mind? What are we really referring to?

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We have a tendency to swing from one extreme to another, when often finding a “middle way” is the best course of action. We often fall into this problem when we try something, it doesn’t work out, so we overcompensate by doing the exact opposite.

For example, when I first started trying to date girls, I used to believe that the more kind I was, the more compliments I said, and the more gifts I gave, then the more the person would like me. When I found this attitude not working, I stopped being nice altogether and instead became acting like a jerk and asshole.

That didn’t work either. I was young and naive, I thought I had to make a choice between being “really nice, but suffocating” and “really mean, but confident” and I wasn’t aware that there could be a healthy middle way between the two that didn’t sacrifice my kindness nor my self-esteem.

This is one simple and obvious example, but I think this same tendency applies to a lot of different areas in our lives. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking we only have two extremes to choose from, when really there is a lot of room in between to have the good aspects of both.

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Do you think we live in a mean and terrible world? Then you may have mean world syndrome.

Mean world syndrome is a concept proposed by George Gerbner, an influential professor of communication who spent his life studying how culture and media influences our beliefs and perception about society.

The basic idea behind mean world syndrome is that too much exposure to violence and crime through TV, movies, music, video games, and culture can influence some individuals to believe that we live in an inherently evil and mean world.

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If you want to live a miserable life, then blame everyone for your problems and never take responsibility for anything.

Take the test here, if you’re brave enough

Throughout many cultures there is a prevailing belief that the mind is separate from the body – this is called “mind-body dualism.”

Many people still wish to believe this today, even with increasing research on how our biology and brain is directly connected to our psychology and mental health.

Perhaps one major reason people want to believe in dualism is that they want to believe their minds still exist even once their bodies have died.

There is a great comfort in believing that we are permanent and that there is an “after life” waiting for us. We want to exist forever – so we begin to see our bodies as a “shell” that we will eventually move out of.

However, a recent study published in Psychological Science found that this belief in mind-body dualism is linked with less healthy choices in our everyday life.

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The most positive minds are still going to have negative thoughts every now and then.

We are not in complete control of our thoughts, some will pop up from time to time that we don’t invite into our heads. The big difference is how we respond to this negative thinking when it happens.

Here are practical tips to help you let go of negative thinking and not let it turn into a vicious cycle.

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One important aspect of emotional intelligence is knowing when to engage with an emotion vs. when to disengage from an emotion. By changing how we respond to our feelings, we can exercise more effective self-regulation and emotional management.

While often it is healthy to accept your emotions, reflect on them, and release them, sometimes it’s actually healthy for you to avoid an emotion, or distract yourself from an emotion, or actively shift your awareness toward a different kind of emotional experience.

This is because emotions can take on a cyclical and self-fulfilling form.

There’s a point where the more you indulge in sadness, or anger, or grief, the more you’re conditioning those wirings in the brain that actually trigger those emotions, which makes you more susceptible to continue to experience those emotions in the future.

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The way you describe your goals to yourself is going to make a big difference in how successful you are when pursuing those goals.

One recent study published in PLOS One found that depressed individuals describe their goals in more general and abstract terms, which may contribute to their lack of motivation and goal attainment.

Individuals are more likely to be happier and achieve their goals when they have specific goals in mind rather than goals that are very general and vague.

This is because if you can describe your goals in more specific terms, then often you’ll have a better idea of the kinds of actions you need to take to actually get to those goals.

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