Identify, Translate And Express Difficult Emotions

Difficult emotions are those that do not express themselves in a pure way. Most emotions are difficult in a sense. The experience of hate and love at the same time is one such example that is more common than you might think. Another example is the common combination of compassion and anger, or anger and sadness.

Sometimes we like to generalize our experiences and dismiss them as “troublesome.” However, it is important to learn how to identify emotions that trigger all of our different emotional states.

Sometimes we have to work very hard to identify such feelings, translate them into conscious thoughts, and then speak them out loud. Each of these steps can be very complex, but they also each offer a way out that can get us out of such an emotional state if we don’t want to dwell in it any longer.

One thing is certain: there are not enough words to express difficult emotions. Maybe that’s why poetry exists. Poetry is more than just an artistic expression.

People writing this believe it is a great way to communicate their difficult emotions to the rest of the world. The same goes for the rest of the people who choose to express their emotions through another art form.

Difficult emotions and associated expressions

The fact that words cannot always be directly translated between two languages ​​also shows how complicated it is to recognize and express emotions.

There is as yet no way of transferring the precise meaning of all terms for feelings from one language to another. This is precisely because both the feelings and the terms are complex and often occur in a specific social context.

Let’s look at a few examples:

• Leisure stress . This is a German word that stands for the stress we experience when we do certain activities just to pass the time.
• Litost . This is a Czech word that has to do with the sensation we experience when we realize that we are irreversibly miserable.
• gigil . This is a Filipino term that stands for the strong urge to “squeeze” something because it is too cute not to (eg a baby’s cheeks).
• Sukha . This is a Sanskrit expression that represents the kind of joy that doesn’t feel just “temporary”. It is about intense, long-lasting happiness.

In many cases there is no way to directly convert these separate terms into another language without further explanation. The same goes for difficult emotions. So far we have not found a way to identify, translate or express them.

This can make us feel very uncomfortable because the inability to address an emotion starts with the identification process.

How to identify difficult emotions

Most of us are used to categorizing emotions into five basic groups:  happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust. Our usual feelings often correspond to these categories.

However, there are occasions where we want to be more precise and not be because these groups are too general. Perhaps our fear is tender and our anger is cowardly.

What shapes difficult emotions is precisely the fact that they are a mix of many different emotions that can apparently be very different from each other. In order to identify them, we must first make our thinking processes more flexible.

It is important to understand that we cannot categorize them because they do not correspond to our “usual” emotions.

We also need to stop placing value judgments on our emotions from an ethical standpoint. In fact,  there are no good or bad emotions  — with one possible exception, depending on the situation.

What ultimately determines the main characteristics of a particular emotion is the way we handle it and the associated energy. In other words, an emotion can be a precursor to our actions, but never a valid reason.

We need to understand that there is nothing wrong with feeling a sad kind of happiness. We don’t have to make one more present than the other. This means that we should accept our emotions as they are.

The importance of defining and expressing emotions

Self-expression makes you feel free. Bottling everything up on the other hand makes you feel stressed and nervous. Expressing what we feel verbally also enriches our communication with others and improves the quality of our internal dialogue. It also improves our understanding of ourselves and others, empathy, and inner and outer peace.

To put difficult emotions into words, we need to analyze and separate them from each other. We also need to analyze the influence they have on each other.

When we feel a violent kind of joy, we are dealing with pleasure and anger. When we feel a deep and anxious sadness, we are dealing with two basic emotions and a specific emotion. However, all these concepts can be defined even better.

Take this example: anger is synonymous with irritation, worry and frustration, among other things. It is important to find the word that fits what we feel.

Here’s an exercise that can help you through the process of identifying, translating, and expressing difficult emotions. Complete the following sentence: “I feel […] when […]”  For example, “I feel sad when someone cancels an appointment with me.”

Do this yourself and see what you have put together and written down. Think about this. You will find that this is an interesting exercise that sometimes results in poetry! Either way, this leads to an improved understanding of our emotional states.