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<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0\u201cThere can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of the truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours.\u201d – Novelist Arnold Bennett<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n Common speak advocates keeping your emotions in check, not letting your emotions overrule you, being rationale, and the like. We come to relate with our emotional world as if it\u2019s something of a hassle by-product of the human design.<\/p>\n Sadly, when we lose touch with how we feel, we\u00a0lose our emotional compass to guide our living. Instead, defenses and fear\u00a0dictate what we do.<\/p>\n I think the fear of our emotions runs deep. Propriophobia<\/strong> (PRO-pree-o-FO-bee-a) is Greek for \u201cfear of one\u2019s own felt sense\u201d (technically: \u201cfear of one\u2019s own\u201d). One might also translate it as \u201cfear of the inner self.\u201d*<\/p>\n Why do we fear our emotions? And what is the purpose and function of emotions if it seems to be a manufacture\u2019s design in our biology?<\/p>\n First, I don\u2019t think we necessary fear our emotions consciously. It\u2019s the plight of modern living. Our attention is devoted to what\u2019s out there. There\u2019s lots to get done, tick-boxes off the list, and a job to keep. What we unconsciously end up with is a highly valued \u201crational mind,\u201d as if this system is void of emotions, subscribing to the mind-over-body type of mentality. We see the nebulous stuff of emotion as \u201cin the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Said in another way, we relegate our emotions. We override our feelings in order to get some order.<\/p>\n But emotions are not just in the mind. It is a real bodily experience\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>(see image below).\u00a0<\/strong>Emotions are bodily activation that organises our behavior. Check with yourself if this holds true: Think of a time when something make your feel anxious or scared. Where do you feel it in the body? Chances are, you would feel your heart beating faster, butterflies in the stomach, and\/or tension in the chest region. Or think of a time when someone make your angry. Where do you feel it in the body? Chances are, you would experience your fist clenching, a flush of hotness over your face, etc.<\/p>\n \n