Our Emotions: An Overview

What are “emotions”? It’s a word that we use all of the time to describe our feelings, but because of their very nature, it can be difficult to put them into words. The reason for this is that the part of the brain where our emotions originate and where emotional memories are stored is the limbic system (also called the mid-brain and paleocortex), which is essentially a “non-verbal” part of the brain.

The outer part of the brain, the cortex (or neocortex) is where logical thought, cognitive memories, analytical and spatial processing, speech, movement and learning take place. None of these functions are connected to feelings. On top of that, the interconnections between these two brain structures are not all that efficient. That is why many times we’ll say something like “I know I shouldn’t feel this way but I can’t help it”, or “I don’t know why I feel like that”.

When we talk about our emotions, we usually mean feelings that we call anger, happiness, fear, sadness, anxiety, stress and confusion. Many times children will say they are “bored”, and when we observe their behavior, it doesn’t look like boredom, it looks more like fear or anxiety. That’s because it’s so hard to put into words what that “silent” part of the brain is telling us. In fact, it really takes years for us to get to know ourselves and others around us. Many times, we can get a better understanding of feelings by observing body language, musculature and tone of voice rather than become too focused on verbal descriptions of what feelings are being experienced.