When People Talk … We listen
This is the second in a series of Expressing Feelings, the first installment being on theory, this one on the practice. In brief review, Expressing Feelings I: Theory we discussed:
–There are four basic feelings:
o Joy, when I have something I love; sadness when I lose it
o Fear when I fear losing something I love; anger when I have lost it
This is the first of four blogs on expressing feelings. This one is on theory; Expressing Feelings II will be on how practice expressing feelings; Feelings III will be on how to hear other people’s feelings, and Feelings IV will be on when not to express feelings. Let’s get started.
This is the second of two blogs on happiness, the first being on “Wanting and Liking.” Here I want to discuss the experiences of pleasure and joy. Know, however, that all four of these words (wanting, liking, pleasure, joy), and probably many more, are approximate ways of understanding this feeling of happiness. We know a few things about happiness for sure, but many more we have only vague ideas about. We know, for instance, that if people say they “want to be happy,” they probably won’t be…happy. Happiness is a result of action, not something that can be achieved by looking for it and trying to find it. Let’s start with a look at pleasure, then joy, and then happiness.