Experience is the bodily experience of mental states. A person comprehends the event that has happened, passes it through his head in order to analyze it and draw conclusions. But there is another way. Basically, people embody an event in the body, during which a joyful event fills the body with positive emotions, and a difficult event is expressed through crying in order to break out of the body and leave.
Usually people experience a negative state, which becomes their habit. It is normal to be upset sometimes, since we all face problems from time to time that cause stress, and our life cannot always be cloudless. However, if stress does not let you go all the time, you should be wary. Suffering has a detrimental effect on health and leads to serious illnesses.
How is it considered in psychology?
In the psychological literature there are different interpretations and views on the feelings of experience. There are two views on emotional experiences as a psychological phenomenon:
- Study of feeling based on the emotional sphere.
- Experience allows a person to overcome various situations during which the inner world changes.
For some authors, feeling is closely related to emotions. Any emotional experience is associated with life events and has a vivid psychological overtones.
Other authors distinguish between emotions and experiences; for them, the second state is a separate process associated with the reflexive part of a person. The most famous work on this topic was presented by F. E. Vasilyuk in his book “Psychology of Experiences.”
Let's consider different aspects of this complex mental phenomenon.
The world of human emotions
It happens that sometimes it is difficult for us to cope with the burden of our own thoughts and realize the world of human emotions that exists within us. We want comfort, care and psychological strokes. If you feel sad and feel like your life is going downhill, your emotional state is unstable, or you are prone to this, take care of your future state now so that life will be less associated with worries. There are many ways to do this that have already been tested and really help. All you have to do is try which one is right for you.
To start, keep a journal of kindness or good things, where you describe all the positive things that happened to you during the day. Let it be a small thing, that certain nameless waiter who wrote your name on the glass, and it brought you joy and a smile. These little things get lost and forgotten in the flow of stormy days, but in a diary they can be preserved and come in handy at that moment when you again lose all faith in humanity. Then you will open your notebook again and find there a whole storehouse of positive things that will definitely brighten up the gray streak of life. Beauty is in the little things. If you're feeling sad or lonely right now, you can turn to Max Ehrmann's nearly 200-year-old writing. Let this be your epigraph to the beginning of the diary.
Max Ehrmann characterizes his essay as parting words, that is, the gift that he was able to leave behind himself to every person. According to A. Maslow, bringing something into the world, leaving behind a gift for future generations is the highest human good, the crown of needs. This is the truth that Ehrmann came to after many years of living. These words contain the great wisdom of the American writer. Be kind to yourself, read these lines.
Strive to go your own way, to walk calmly, without the fuss and unnecessary noise of others. Remember that there is a world full of silence. Try to live in peace with people, animals and your God, without changing yourself and your views on things that are important to you. When you speak, give others the opportunity to speak. Listening will allow you to be heard. Even those who are not sufficiently educated and do not have a sharp word have something to say. Speak your truth clearly, without embellishment or judgment, but softly.
Strive to find yourself. But at the same time, don’t fall into the trap that many people have already fallen into. Its essence is very simple: people search for themselves all their lives, turning these searches into the meaning of life and not noticing during this activity how days and months slip through their fingers. Finding yourself is not at all difficult. This does not require any training or secrets. Just relax and watch yourself. If everything is good in life, a person will never do what he doesn’t want. You might be surprised to find yourself behind a canvas, or wake up when you're finishing the second section of your novel. Or maybe what you want most is to be a car mechanic? No one knows. Except you. So relax and let your body show you what you really want.
Forms of experiencing feelings
If we connect the emotional sphere and experience, then we cannot bypass the form of manifestation. Forms of experiencing emotions:
- Mood. A general condition that is associated with vitality. It can be positive or depressed, passive.
- Affects. Severe agitation in which a person is unable to control his actions. The result of affective behavior can be unexpected feelings - laughter, joy, anger. Affect depends on the individual qualities of a person - temperament, character.
- Stress. The condition occurs under stressful conditions and a person’s behavior changes.
- Frustration. This form of emotional feeling is characterized by disorganization of consciousness; the person is in a state of hopelessness.
- Passion. A strong, lasting feeling that completely captures a person. One of the feelings that increases the activity of the individual. Manifests itself in learning, work, sports, creativity, and science. There is negative and positive passion.
Types of Emotional Experiences
- They classify asthenic experiences and sthenic ones. Asthenic experiences suppress the vital processes of the body. Stenic emotions, on the contrary, increase vital activity. Asthenic experiences are described as a state of timidity, passivity, a person is dominated by a feeling of despondency and shame. Stenic emotions are characterized by high energy and motivate a person to activity.
- Emotions are also divided into simple and complex manifestations. Simple emotions are associated with the satisfaction of primary needs. Such feelings are divided into pleasant and unpleasant. Complex emotions are associated with understanding various objects and the structure of life. The subjective experience of emotion is a personal internal feeling.
A little about affect
This is the most powerful destructive force, a violent outburst of feelings. Often a person describes this state as an avalanche beyond his control.
During the affect, control over actions is lost, actions and actions are often forgotten. You can be very ashamed of your words and actions. In addition, sometimes actions cause irreparable harm to surrounding people and objects.
After the affect, one feels overwhelmed, tired, indifferent to everything, and sometimes drowsy.
Where does this condition come from? It arises in situations that a person cannot resolve; they are very painful for him. In this case, he runs away into passion.
Affects can accumulate and then a breakdown occurs. Yes, affect helps to get rid of resentment and irritation. But the consequences are very dire.
Go to action
Carry out the points of your plan in order. Now the girl was convinced that there were no new contacts or strange correspondence in his phone. I observed the guy’s attitude towards himself - it did not change, he remained just as gentle and caring. But things never came to a direct conversation, because her beloved told her the good news that he would be able to watch her performance. After that, all the girl’s worries disappeared.
And that's probably all. Now you know what these emotions are, what you should do and what not to do when you start to feel anxious. Follow these recommendations and don't worry about anything!
The theme of feelings in existential psychology
Existential psychology examines the uniqueness of every person, their experiences and history. Important attention is paid to issues of life and death, freedom, responsibility of choice, communication, the problem of love and loneliness, as well as the search for meaning.
Existential experiences can be negative and positive. The negative ones include:
- Horror. Lack of understanding of what awaits him.
- Boredom. Devaluation of what exists for oneself.
- Despair. A person has nothing to rely on; he seeks support only in himself.
- Loneliness. A person can understand that he is loved, he has people who support him. He feels completely alone, no one understands him completely.
- Death. It either devalues Existence or initiates a revaluation of what is happening.
Positive inner experiences fill the life world with meaning. These include love, catharsis and creativity.
Make a clear action plan
After you understand what is causing your anxiety, pick up a piece of paper and a pen and write down everything that you think would help you eliminate your anxiety. We continue to analyze the example of a girl who is about to give a performance and who thinks that her boyfriend is cheating on her. Let's say on her piece of paper she wrote that in order to stop thinking that her man is cheating on her, she needs to check the list of his contacts on her phone, look at her latest correspondence on social media. networks, order a detective who will follow the man and tell her how he behaves with other women while she is not around, be alone with him for some time and observe how he behaves. Understand what he thinks about their future together and whether he thinks about it at all. And as a last resort, tell him directly about your suspicions.
Research
According to the research of some psychologists, experiences and emotions belong to different classes of mental phenomena. How can one imagine the process in question without including emotions? Experiments show that feeling often occurs without the emotional sphere, which is associated with the actions of psychological defenses.
For example, you can come across cases where a person is having fun at a holiday, smiling, and in the depths of his soul anti-vital experiences (reflections about the meaninglessness of his own life) flow. People are very surprised when they learn about such a person attempting suicide the next day. Avoidance of painful emotions occurs with the use of psychological defenses; they lead to withdrawal from reality. It should be noted that anti-vital experiences are not always suicidal; they are often reflections on the meaninglessness of life.
The removal of psychological defenses leads to strong changes in the individual; they are accompanied by emotional, bodily, and cognitive processes. The practice of psychotherapy is based on this scheme. To develop the client, he is freed from the oppression of defense mechanisms, due to which his personal growth occurs. Video: 10 facts about emotional experiences
Cleaning plan
Before you act on your plan, you should edit it thoroughly. The girl should really look at the situation. She does not have the opportunity to hire a detective because she does not have enough money for this. If you ask about a future together, then, most likely, he will simply lie to her that he sees them together in ten years in a big house with two beautiful children, a cat and a dog, sitting next to a warm fireplace. Most likely, he will say what she wants to hear. Therefore, these two points should be crossed out. But the rest is quite doable.
Theory F.E. Vasilyuk
Vasilyuk views the process not as contemplation, but as activity. Sustained emotional experiences arise as a result of a critical situation. During this situation, a person can realize his motives and values.
According to Vasilyuk, experiencing is not a mental function, but an independent process, activity. It leads to the restoration of psychological possibility. There are four types of critical situations:
- Frustration;
- Stress;
- Conflict;
- A crisis.
Positive events increase a person’s ability; they realize one vital need, but disrupt the implementation of others.
So, the topic under consideration in psychology still requires additional research and study. Life is filled with meaning through feeling emotions; this mental process affects the formation of personal qualities.
