Emotions

In my work as a clinical psychologist, I am faced daily with stories of tragedy, trauma, illness, conflict, and loss. Each therapy session is a window into private suffering. “Isn’t it hard?” people ask me. “Isn’t it awfu...

Compassion is a word that can feel a bit overused these days. Everyone seems to remind us to be compassionate with ourselves and others. When words are overused, they tend to loose their meaning. But there is immense worth to the concept of compassion ...

Anxiety is a tricky emotion. It is a fearful response to an imagined situation, a self-imposed deadline, or a hoped-for outcome that is not coming to fruition as quickly as planned. Or it is a response to a perceived threat that may or may not manife...

So often when we are in physical, mental or emotional pain it feels overwhelming. Often, we begin to become consumed by the pain and it becomes all we can think about even when we try to distract ourselves away from the pain. The pain we all feel is ...

You can be lonely whether or not you have a partner, relatives, or many friends. When you have a need and desire to be interpersonally connected and recognize that it’s missing, you may become wrapped in the emotion of loneliness. Emotions, by de...

You may have blushed at times when you were embarrassed, humiliated, discouraged, or mortified. Although blushing is an innately patterned emotional response, it can be conceived most simply as a reaction to heightened self-consciousness. 1 Blushing ...

Emotions can help us make choices by giving us a vital compass that tells us where to go and who to get involved with. If we follow the directions of our inner compass, then we can make choices that feel authentic, enthusiastic, and sustainable. Imagin...

Lust may be experienced as intense desire, ardent enthusiasm, or unbridled sexual longing. This passionate craving is attention directing and a motivational force as is the experience of any emotion. When untethered, lust can lead to actions that may...

We can experience longing for something we had and lost, or we can long for something we never had in the first place. A person may already have a partner but long for something more, or maybe different, that he or she believes will bring fulfillment...

As we learned in my last post Inner Compass: Inner Child, emotions can help us make choices by giving us a vital compass that tells us where to go and who to get involved with. If we follow the directions of our inner compass, then we can make cho...