“Your emotions are nothing but biochemical storms in your brain and you are in control of them at any point of time!!”

Tony Robbins

Every one of us experiences an array of emotions almost every day. I may be happy, sad, angry, afraid, jealous. All these emotions are important part of our life. Our emotions decide how we think and act. So, they influence the decisions we take or the way we behave. But, have you ever wondered, exactly what causes these emotions or what actually occurs when an emotion is triggered. A lot of research has been done in this field. Scientists have found out that an emotional reaction is not a single continuous process rather it actually has many different parts.

First and foremost, emotions are created by our brain. The limbic system is a collection of structures involved in processing emotions as well as memory. This system includes parts of brain such as the Hippocampus, the Amygdala and the Hypothalamus. The limbic system is located in the cerebrum part of the brain. The amygdala plays a pivotal role in mediating different aspects of emotional learning and behaviour. It helps to access the emotional reactiveness of situations, identify threats, and prepare the body for fight or fright reactions by increasing heart rate and breathing rate. Additionally, the amygdala also helps in regulation of memory storage particularly memories associated with strong emotions. Research has shown that in case of damage to the amygdala, the person experiences higher levels of aggression, faulty emotional control and failure in recognition of emotions.

Although the critical function of hippocampus is to hold short-term memories and transfer them to long-term storage in our brains, it is also involved in emotional processing especially anxiety and avoidant behaviors. The hypothalamus on the other hand is involved in emotions such as pleasure and rage, aversion, displeasure, and a tendency to uncontrollable and loud laughing. These individual components of the limbic system are involved in a person’s emotions. That is why the limbic system is sometimes also called as the emotional nervous system.

Now that we have learnt, limbic system in the brain gives rise to our emotions, the next question arises, why do we have these emotions? The answer to this question has an evolutionary base. The emotions have helped our ancestors to survive. When they lived in jungles, they needed emotion of fear (flight) to realize the dangers they might face in the form of wild animals and run away to save the life, emotion of anger (fight) to confront the dangers and may be of the helplessness (freeze) in case they are unable to face the danger. Therefore, it can be assumed that we developed an emotional system primarily because it could generate quick responses to danger. Now also, all our emotions in one or other way motivate us to take appropriate action either against any dangerous situation or to accomplish our goal.

Mostly, emotions help us in communicating with other people. The communication may be verbal or non-verbal. For example, when we are boiling with anger, we may either bash someone or show our anger with our body language and gestures. Also, the gestures of other people and their tone of voice can help you recognize the emotions of that person. Thus, our emotions help us to understand ourselves and others in a better way as well as to lead a balanced life. But at the same time, our emotions can drive us crazy sometimes if we let them to rule us!!

To sum up, I feel, our emotions add flavors to our life. From the excitement of a win to agony of losing something, from panic of the unexpected to anger of the reckless every emotion make gives a meaning to our life. So, let’s get hold of our emotions before they get hold of you!!

“Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you!!”

Roger Ebert.