How Feel You ?

Scene 1:

Mr. Tan is on his way to a funeral. This is ironic, as he is actually feeling extremely good that day. But his aunt just passed away and he was asked to be there. Upon arriving he was greeted by his teary-eyed relatives, all thanking him for coming. Though he is all sunshine within, he assumed a solemn face and offered condolences to his sobbing uncle. Mr. Tan is not without emotions, but since he has no special relationship with this aunt, he didn't really feel sad.

Scene 2:

Ash was feeling sad, and the feeling was real. She looked at her friend's empty bed. Only a few days ago they had dinner together, and now she's going to be all alone. Her friend got a letter of offer to a better college and she accepted. Though she felt happy for her friend, she could not help but to feel sad inside. She smiled at her overjoyed friend and yet her heart wept at the imminent separation.

* * *

I chose a guy for scene 1 and a girl for scene 2 because of special reasons. ;)

Emotions. Humans are created with them, though the degree of sensitivity varies with differences among people, especially sex. I don't know about the real definition, but I dare say emotions are feelings too, only that they are stronger.

The power of emotions are usually felt most during the adolescent period. Unfortunately, the ability to control them are also raw and the weakest at the same time. To better understand emotions, I think we have to divide them into two simple categories, namely the Felt emotions and the Displayed emotions.

Emotions that are 'Felt' are real and can have an impact on a person. If you saw something that makes you feel really touched, the picture of that thing will probably be around your mind for some time. They can be positive and negative, and they are from yourself, like in scene 2. Usually people feel with the things that they can best identify with and will evoke sentiments inside oneself. Since these emotions are real, and sometimes powerful, people usually have a hard time trying to understand and express them properly.

The typical 'Displayed' emotions can be seen in my example at scene 1. We don't really have to feel them, we just have to 'display' them via our face and muscles. Basically, they are forms and patterns we were taught to show during certain occasions. Imagine if Mr. Tan went to the funeral smiling like an omelet? He was only trying to 'express' his 'Felt' emotions, but what will people around him, namely his relatives, feel? You get the picture then.

Most people, including myself, blame ourselves for acting like a clown. I myself am confused sometimes. I cannot answer satisfactorily a question that asks me how am I feeling, simply because I have no exact clue of what am I feeling. This sometimes leads to questions of my own self, about my own identity, and whether am I being genuine or just putting on a show.

Understanding one's own emotions is always tough. There is an adage saying that if you want to change the world, change yourself first. In order to achieve that, being able to decipher one's own emotions is not a step to be skipped. There are days when you don't feel like smiling or being friendly. There are days when you want to jump and shout. These emotions, assuming they are 'Felt', are not wrong. But if we display them on the wrong occasions the results can be simply hilarious!

'Displayed' emotions are not hypocritical; they can be really helpful in terms of building relationships with people if mastered properly. They help to mask one's true and 'Felt' emotions. 'Displayed' emotion-ners are able to smile and crack jokes even when they are not feeling strictly sunshine inside. In a workplace, especially one that deals with customer face to face, having displayed the correct 'Displayed' emotions is very important.

'Felt' emotions should not be wore on one's sleeves, in other words, displaying them openly to anybody no matter who they are. Our emotions are our treasures, whom we share only to people we choose and loved. To achieve this, we learn about 'Displayed' emotions to mask ourselves and at the same time to protect our hearts.

Part of the Jedi quote sounds like this:

There is no emotion; there is peace.

There is no passion; there is serenity.