What do emotions feel like?
12.03.2014 by NihIt would probably best benefit everyone on the website if someone could explain what exactly emotions are supposed to feel like. Are they in your head like thoughts, are they physical sensations, or are they something else?
I can only think of three things I've ever experienced (I say experience because it was purely physical, or seemingly so), which were social anxiety (like uncontrollable shaking or a nervous tension), the adrenaline of fear, and a sort of warm sexual response in my naval (though I've only felt that last one a few times (how many parentheses am I going to use for one sentence?)). But it was as though I was being betrayed by my body, because I had these responses, though no control over them, and felt the same as I always feel, save for these physical responses overtaking me. The best example I can give of this was one time I had a crying episode, though was even, while sobbing, expressing my inability to fathom why it was happening to a person who was with me at the time. The tears were physically there, but I was exactly the same on the inside. It just sort of arose, I tried to dismiss it, and then I couldn't stop it.
I realize I said three and then specifically categorized the experiences as physical responses, only to proceed to provide a fourth, excluded example immediately afterwards. In my mind, they are different. I can't explain how they are different, but I can trace the cause to the effect for the three but not for the crying episode.
But these seem more like responses to emotions and not so much the emotions themselves. So what are emotions supposed to actually feel like?
I'll try to describe it
01.05.2014 by CD110
The emotion itself is sort of a dreamy thought that feels good or bittersweet (referring to nostalgia and melancholy). Wish I could explain it more concisely. It's a different sort of stimulation that can be very pleasurable or painful in its own right. But those emotions also have effects I can feel very physically. The most common is a tingling starting from the back of my head and going down, including to the arms. The stronger the emotion is, the farther it travels before fading out. This always comes after the thought. Sadness somehow makes me feel heavy and vulnerable, and when I've been exposed to it for a few minutes it becomes difficult to bear.
I honestly don't know
01.08.2014 by jadeprincess
Truth is, I just feel a heaviness in my chest, which prompts me to search my memory for a fictional experience or memory that relates, and fake it based on that. My sister described happiness as "fizzing soda bubbles", but I don't like carbonated drinks, so I guess it's different for everybody.
Horrible!
02.09.2014 by Elita
If it's anything that I can feel, one of them is shame!
That feeling of being shame makes me feel so... out of place? Like I just want to shake it off, get rid of it, anything just to stop that ugly feeling, I cant describe it. I just know it's shame and that ugly feeling.
Not only that but I knew I was different, in a way because I FEEL emotions in the pit of my stomach or chest (am I the only one? Or is this normal like this is what other people should feel or is it just me?) and its like I'm being drilled alive and sometimes its so intense that my breathing becomes heavy like I just ran a mile especially when its anger and sometimes my bi-polarness kicks in - not like Alexi is a problem! Let alone bi-polar. Even if I can feel them, I cant understand what that feeling is most of the time and sometimes I think its completely unecessary for me to feel like this because its like I'm feeling a swirl of emotions for no reason or for something so small!
I also think that Alexi starting to grow into me, I think I have secondary Alexi wherein I suddenly stop crying from an intense emotional feeling (like crying) and feel completely nothing and I just got the feeling that my actions like having an emotional episode was shameful like I shouldn't have done it because it just feels so wrong....
Though, I prefer not to tell this to anyone in my life, last time I told someone, they just thought I have empathy but I have 134 points in my score and that's big so I just fake a laugh and a smile so as not to offend them (I'm also practicing on how to describe emotions that's why I have 8 points on that category) after all, they say I'm not smiling all the time but most of the time I blame people for not leaving me alone, they can't seem to get the message....
shame
03.09.2014 by SnowWhite
shame is horror... I hid myself so much over the last year... shame makes you hide yourself, I know this probably doesn't help a lot at all, but the last days/weeks I actually can get out to the store and buy some food and so on without totally going crazy... try not to hide... I did not know a single word to talk to people... yet it might come back slowly... I hope it might stay something like it is now until the end of my days, but - who knows . . .
Also bi-polar..
04.09.2014 by Elita
I think I also have bi-polar but since I also have Alexi, I can't feel the frustration inside, only the stress in my head (but that still isn't enough to shut my frustrations to myself)
I screwed up last week and ended up talking back to my teacher, she talked to me afterwards and I felt so shameful and it feels so horrible that I don't care if I want to use lithium - screw it if I already feel empty. Just stop the feeling
When I was a child, I told my mom that the only time I ever felt "love" was toward animals. It was a freaking cry for help! But I got yelled and screamed at for saying that.
I feel true genuine love for animals. But not for humans.
Emotions
12.03.2015 by OldUnc64
Some emotions are experienced as slight feelings but occasionally emotions can be quite intense. I was playing a slot machine in a casino and was losing horribly. People came to spectate and , from my personal experience, we're waiting to pounce on this machine the instant it cleaned out my pockets. I felt fear, I felt disgust, both at myself and the vultures waiting. I also felt desperation because I was running out of cash. To put more into these abstract terms, I was flushed and shaking and sweating and felt like I was going to regurgitate. Then it happened! Bells went off and I had hit a jackpot for $3500.00. My emotions then took an express train to smugness and gloating! I felt exhilaration and profound relief from my feelings of fear and nausea. I collected my cash and never darkened the door of that casino again. Just writing this brought back some of the memories of this intense emotional experience. I hope this managed to coney a little of what emotions are like.
To me....
12.03.2015 by DXS
I just get the tightness in the chest, and the "gut" feeling in the stomach, but I cannot describe what emotion I'm feeling. Except for the "on top of the world" feeling and this feeling scares me because when I had this feeling during my working career after doing what I thought was amazing, a Supervisor would come along and poke holes and then I felt like I fell off a ladder and went SPLAT. I hate that feeling. So I have come to dread the "on top of the world" feeling.
Happiness, to me, is "neutral." Anything other than "happy," I feel something but cannot put a word to it.
Difficult
16.03.2015 by Franmail
Attempting to answer this question has got me thinking about how little emotion I feel. It's hard to feel anything - but I'm sure I wasn't always this way. I'm sure the idea of Alexi being a personality trait is not always true. I've noticed that whenever distressing things come on the TV I am not distressed. I just watch/listen and feel nothing. We have a show over here (UK) called Gogglebox where it's basically other people watching TV and their comments and reactions. Obviously the people are hand picked for having strong reactions because otherwise the show would be boring but I have noticed how people describe their emotions as they are having them on this show. Like they will say - oh I love this bit it sends chills down my spine! This is not a feeling I've ever experienced - chills down the spine. Or people say "it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up".
I do get anxiety in the pit of my stomach. Anger which I haven't felt in a long time usually makes me tear up that's very frustrating, I would prefer to be able to hold my own when I'm angry and not end up having to stay quiet in case I cry. Happiness and excitement are things I can't remember but I know I've experienced them. I can act all this stuff well enough so no one knows.
