Day 2: Feelings Are Unexplainable.

June 8th, 2007 ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ Feelings Are Unexplainable.

Day 2

This has always intrigued me. How does one ever explain what a feeling actually feels like? DonÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t believe me? Explain to me what excitement feels like. You canÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t do it. The Merriam-Webster dictionary even fails at this task, they define it as ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬Åto arouse (as a strong emotional response) by appropriate stimuliÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

Wow, this thread is deep... I never thought about feelings that much before, but this is really something that makes you have to think... Feelings are confusing if you ask me...

[Mod Edit: "First post!" is a really distracting thing to post, specially in Off Topic so please do not do it again as it's considered spam ~misterxman]

I never thought of it that way. I know you can tell the difference between emotions, but describing/defining is a completely different area.

Emotions are the feed of the soul, and the source of life as we know it. Not all of us are like spock, the emotionless Clingon (sp?). Emotions are all physicle and mental responces to everyday life.

Wow dude, great story there Trapical. Hey, don't worry about the personal tangent, I rather liked it. Infact, I can add one of my own. I'm a guitarist and a songwriter yet music is much more than just a bunch of sounds to me; it allows me to vent feelings into pure energy - sound energy. It's this energy which is a translation of how I feel which somewhat gives me a slightly better understanding of those feelings. I'd agree that some of the things I pour out are completely indescribable and undefinable, which makes it all the more unique an experience. Documented on a music tab program are feelings I can only describe as an intense hatered for everything and anyone that breathes and a bloodlust parallel to hitlers through a dispair and empty hopelessness right down to a deep reflecting semblance of peace and quiet.

Even then I wouldn't have done these feelings justice. Your post hit a chord with me, if you'll pardon the pun.

I kind of agree with what worrior says, but i am slightly different. I show my emotions through poetry and mind, stories and writing. Here is an example of my work:

Crimson tears

tears flow

crimson red

beating with the rhythm

the rhythm of my past

they flow down

a river in its own

you can try to change its course

but it still flows

flowing for one purpose

to reach the goal

as logs slow flow

trials test us;

pain misleads us

but they are only obstacles

your tears fall down

but they will pass

you will see the destination

an ocean of love

If I could describe the emotion you were trying to, it would be one of two things(kind of...).

Mild jealousy... Since you also felt some sort of happiness, this is a possibilty.

Or SEVERE jealousy... I would guess this would be it. Possibly since it was so severe you had some sort of 'sensory overload' which caused you to feel those somewhat 'pleasent' emotions as well.

Just my guess, could be completely wrong though...

Whenever I fire dance/manipulate staff/poi/use fire props/etc, I get this feeling of power, this feeling of intense energy transfered through the flame to me. As you said it's hard to explain, you'd have to try it. It's actually rather addicting, once you light up you can't stop, and it only lasts 5 minutes or so each light up. It's an addicting, empowering feeling whenever I fire dance/manipulate staff/poi/use fire props/etc. One of those feelings you can't explain.

I wish feelings were explainable... *le sigh*

Another good one is when I bring myself into that intense state of meditation where all things seem as one. I've only been able to accomplish it once. :P

Whenever I fire dance/manipulate staff/poi/use fire props/etc, I get this feeling of power, this feeling of intense energy transfered through the flame to me. As you said it's hard to explain, you'd have to try it. It's actually rather addicting, once you light up you can't stop, and it only lasts 5 minutes or so each light up. It's an addicting, empowering feeling whenever I fire dance/manipulate staff/poi/use fire props/etc. One of those feelings you can't explain.

 

 

 

I wish feelings were explainable... *le sigh*

I get the same feeling when I play guitar, except maybe not transfered through the flame, as you say. But rather transfered through the music I make.

Is it, by chance, intensified when you perform for a crowd?

Whenever I fire dance/manipulate staff/poi/use fire props/etc, I get this feeling of power, this feeling of intense energy transfered through the flame to me. As you said it's hard to explain, you'd have to try it. It's actually rather addicting, once you light up you can't stop, and it only lasts 5 minutes or so each light up. It's an addicting, empowering feeling whenever I fire dance/manipulate staff/poi/use fire props/etc. One of those feelings you can't explain.

 

 

 

I wish feelings were explainable... *le sigh*

 

I get the same feeling when I play guitar, except maybe not transfered through the flame, as you say. But rather transfered through the music I make.

 

Is it, by chance, intensified when you perform for a crowd?

Yea, except I get this feeling that I don't have a name for, when you see the crowd look up in amazement, or when you see kids eyes light up. It's like when you give a gift intensified by like a 100. Is it the same for you?

Just my opinion, but a pre-med shouldn't be dating a freakin' Junior in highschool. What a waste of time. I'd go out on a limb to assume he's totally undeserving of her, too, but I don't know. :P

The "I don't want to ruin our friendship" paradox really sucks, and people who use it are not very intelligent. The best relationships come from friends, it's just when it doesn't work out that things go bad...So if you're very good friends...Things have a much better chance of working out, yes?

Then again, you'll both be doctors...Welcome to "never seeing eachother...EVER." land. :P

Whenever I fire dance/manipulate staff/poi/use fire props/etc, I get this feeling of power, this feeling of intense energy transfered through the flame to me. As you said it's hard to explain, you'd have to try it. It's actually rather addicting, once you light up you can't stop, and it only lasts 5 minutes or so each light up. It's an addicting, empowering feeling whenever I fire dance/manipulate staff/poi/use fire props/etc. One of those feelings you can't explain.

 

 

 

I wish feelings were explainable... *le sigh*

 

I get the same feeling when I play guitar, except maybe not transfered through the flame, as you say. But rather transfered through the music I make.

 

Is it, by chance, intensified when you perform for a crowd?

 

 

 

Yea, except I get this feeling that I don't have a name for, when you see the crowd look up in amazement, or when you see kids eyes light up. It's like when you give a gift intensified by like a 100. Is it the same for you?

Exactly.

I usually express my emotions through the music I listen to. I almost never express it through something I do (like my own music, poetry, etc.).

If someone pisses me off because they don't like what I stand for, I might listen to Hands Held High by Linkin Park or something heavy.

Recently some guy made fun of me because I was against sexism. Sexism is the belief that one gender is superior over the other. (Such as the male having the authority to manipulate/boss the female around and God forbid the female do that to the male.) Bunch of BS really. Why should I be mad though? It beats having marital problems in the future because I treat my wife like [cabbage].

Listen to a song like that and the anger leaves me.

Totally agree with the whole stage performance emotion thing, no feeling like it.

Great writing man, usually when I see a post that long I hit the back button after 2 sentences but this really kept my eyes on the screen, good luck with the girl.

Fantastic read, my friend. :P

I get feelings like that sometimes too, you just cannot describe them in words.

Wow, i'm curious now as to what happens next in that 'tangent' more than anything :P

Emotions are definitely a fascinating subject, because they seem so unique to us ('You don't know how I feel!') yet the thing is millions if not billions of people have probably felt similar emotions before in their lives. That's evident from the fact that there is nearly always a song to describe how I feel even though i've been through so many seemingly unique emotions in my life.

I can certainly relate to how you felt in the mall that day, of course my situation was slightly different but the basic emotional reaction was probably the same. I couldn't describe it unless it happened to me again, it was a memorable emotion yet mysterious. I can't say I enjoyed it either but it certainly made me feel wiser, more experienced yet somehow sad afterwards.

Emotions are a strange thing, you can never predict how you will feel or what they will be like but we still yearn for higher levels of emotion, perfect love etc. Instead of being frightened by the mystery we charge forth in our lives looking for new emotional highs and inevitably hitting some lows as well.

Great read though, can't wait for the next.

Great post.

I've never understood why people call emotions the domain of the heart, since they're everywhere but there. Knees, stomach and hands are particularly weak spots in my case. I tremble and feel nauseous. If I've got something in my hands, I'll drop it. Once, I've actually fainted too out of emotion. Strong feelings are very physical, hard to unravel and very hard to define.

I am always amazed by the ease with which some people seem to define their feelings. People blurt out they hate or love as though they're giving you the time of day. I can identify that I'm feeling, but can't always stick a label on it.

Another good one is when I bring myself into that intense state of meditation where all things seem as one. I've only been able to accomplish it once. :P

Woo I knew you were a fellow hippy :P

What a wonderful topic! I really enjoyed reading it, I remember a short activity my class did at the beginning of the year just to make a point. The task involved 120 students each in pairs.

We were to come up with on the top of our heads, no dictionaries, Google, or any other help other than each other in an hour:

24 emotion/feeling words in the following categories: hurt

20 emotion/feeling words in the following categories: angry, embarrassed, fearful, energetic, sad, lonely, and belittled.

16 emotion/feeling words in the following categories: helpful, surprised.

12 emotion/feeling words in the following categories: loving

8 emotion/feeling words in the following categories: disgusted

Sounds easy but try doing it, grab a piece of paper your friend, no help only each other and see how many you can come up with.

It is actually extremely hard other than the commonly used emotion and feeling words people don't really have that big a vocabulary and understanding of other words to use to describe their emotions and feelings.

Btw no group completed it in an hour.

(if anyone actually does take the challenge and is baffled for the rest of the answers, pm me and i'll give them to you).

I'm really looking forward to your next post.

Wow! That was good. It made me think. I think that maybe you felt jealousy. But who would like to say they felt jealous about a friend.=] I personally don't know what i would have done.

Wow. ^_^ Great read. ^_^

Life would be a lot easier if feelings could be explained.

Wow. ^_^ Great read. ^_^

 

 

 

Life would be a lot easier if feelings could be explained.

But ultimately less interesting :P

Wow. ^_^ Great read. ^_^

 

 

 

Life would be a lot easier if feelings could be explained.

 

 

 

But ultimately less interesting :P

Hmmm. You have a point there. :D

I'm pretty sure different people feel things differently. There's not one person that will experience a given feeling the same way, I doubt it. And I also think there is much more emotions than the ones we labelled, different kinds of love(loyal, complicity, passionate, controlling, etc) and that each person will feel those different kinds of emotions differentlu.

I'm a scorpio moon in astrology (moon controlling our emotions), and I've always felt things very intensely.

When I'm angry at someone, I feel an immense rage, and I wish I could reach and grab the culprits head, get out of a knife, make him suffer untold pain until his mind is totally broken, then kill him. :mrgreen:

Sometimes I watch my uncle, he almost never gets angry, and when he does, he has almost no reactions, just his lips twisting into a weird smirk. Of course, I can't know what he feels inside, but he definitively reacts differently.

The example about the little kids labelling an emotion as something different is interesting. But I don't think it works like that. The three kids wont feel the exact same emotion, the same way, it's impossible I think. And as little kids, I don't think we needed to ask our parents to know what it was. Personally, just a little introspection, and I could find the cause. The only feeling I didn't understand was the first time I had a "coup de foudre"(idk what's it called in english, suddenly falling in love with someone), it took me several months to figure out what had happened during those couple of seconds lol, but I figured it out :mrgreen:

I think that: Different personalities = different feelings.

WARNING: DO NOT GET MY SISTER STARTED ABOUT THIS. Seriously, she'll never stop.

First of all, great post. Also like how you are doing the little link things at the bottom, that will help me out later.

But I don't know if I completely agree with the 3 person situation you gave us. If all three kids feel the same thing but are told it is called something different, it is just word subjectivity. When they come back to the situation a while down the road, I think they will feel exactly the same. I don't think one will be more nervous than the others, or one more pessimistic, but they may describe it as that because that is what they are told that feeling is. So yes, it is impossible to explain feelings objectively, I do agree with that. Unless I misunderstood the wording of the second part, I think I disagree with it.