Emotions and feelings and maturity… they seem almost too dynamic, too personal and unpredictable to define, much less understand, accept or even utilize to improve one’s life. But the unknown is futile ground for growth, the geographical equivalent of not being able to learn anything if you are always the person talking. Let’s listen in from the inside-out to see if we can begin our journey here.
The word emotion and feeling are both nouns and are synonyms—they have the same or nearly the same meaning as each other. Why then the need for two words? My guess begins with a feeling being the physical touch, one of the five primary senses along with sight, hearing, taste, and smell. Though subjective it did not go far enough so emotion was needed to describe the state of consciousness and feelings beyond the five senses. Emotions number close to 300 so far as I can google them right now.
It occurred to me that the five senses, including touch (feeling) are real and impact us no matter our current state of mind, attitude or perspective. We can close our eyes and be asleep and miss what there is to see, smell, hear or taste. But physically if something touches us, like a Mack truck speeding down the highway while we are napping on the shoulder (better to pull into a rest area), we will feel the impact. A light, gentle rub on the back while we are sleeping, maybe not.
With emotions, not senses, we can be way off base. What we fear, may be embraced by others without that fear, real or not real and a complete fabrication of our minds. Emotions are much more subjective and personal. But they can be as powerful or more powerful than our senses. When we watch a movie it is not real. Those are mostly well paid actors. Those are stunts usually planned in advance with safety in mind. The tricks of the camera such as green screens can be as complex as those our minds can engage in. What we are seeing may depict real events in life but they themselves are not real.
Maturity is even more subjective. The cleanest examples are a ripen fruit or a loan paid in full. There is a strong connection with duty or performance over time. Perhaps we see emotional maturity in that worldly sense—to persevere to the end, a successful ending, no matter what? Or maybe to be emotionally mature is to be able to feel all 300 or so emotions without any adverse affect on oneself or others?
I am not sure but do take exception to the notion of a “perfected condition.” I don’t believe in attaining perfection, only progress. I don’t think life allows you to ever get to the place called perfect. It’s an illusion, sometimes a simple worldly delusion that takes us in the opposite direction.
Simply stated, the goal for me, in terms of progressing down the emotional maturity road is to learn about emotions outside the five senses and see if, through my life journey, I can be alert to which ones I am experiencing and do my best to not have any negative thoughts, words or behaviors associated with that experience.
Definitions below… life here and ahead… enjoy!
Have a TROML Day Today!
Anonymous Andy
Your Personal Revivalist
Emotion (noun):
1. an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness.
2. any of the feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, love, etc.
3. any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by experiencing love, hate, fear, etc., and usually accompanied by certain physiological changes, as increased heartbeat or respiration, and often overt manifestation, as crying or shaking.
4. an instance of this.
5. something that causes such a reaction: “the powerful emotion of a great symphony.”
Synonym: feeling.
Feeling (noun):
1. the function or the power of perceiving by touch.
2. physical sensation not connected with sight, hearing, taste, or smell.
3. a particular sensation of this kind: “a feeling of warmth; a feeling of pain.”
4. the general state of consciousness considered independently of particular sensations, thoughts, etc.
5. a consciousness or vague awareness: “a feeling of inferiority.”
6. an emotion or emotional perception or attitude: “a feeling of joy; a feeling of sorrow.”
7. capacity for emotion, especially compassion: “to have great feeling for the sufferings of others.”
Synonyms: sympathy, empathy, tenderness, sensitivity, sentiment, emotional, tender, impassioned, passionate.
Antonyms: apathy, cold.
Maturity (noun):
1. the state of being mature; ripeness: “The fruit will reach maturity in a few days.”
2. full development; perfected condition: “maturity of judgment; to bring a plan to maturity.”
3. Finance. a.the state of being due. b.the time when a note or bill of exchange becomes due.
Although full physical maturity has been reached at this time, educational and emotional maturity remain ongoing.
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