Wow, an interesting and informative article from USA Today - how did that slip in there? At the end they even list some positive changes for me in the realm of emotions - that's always a good thing.
Need to get in touch with your feelings? There's an app for that - an iPhone app called "Awareness" ($3.99).
Emotions show our true colors
By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
Updated 04/04/2011
If your life is running on autopilot, there is new cause to break away and get in touch with your emotions.
"We're so distracted by technology, there's a growing hunger for a renewed connection with ourselves and what's happening in the moment," says Daniel Goleman, whose 1995 best seller, Emotional Intelligence, popularized the idea that there are other kinds of intelligence not measured by standard IQ tests.
Being attentive to your emotional state doesn't make you self-absorbed — rather, it can translate into benefits for health and well-being, say those who have picked up the torch for this new movement.
FOR KIDS: Helping them understand emotions
Medical advances in brain imaging also have expanded our understanding of how brain activity relates to our emotions.
"The scientific literature certainly shows a dramatic rise of research into the emotions since the 1990s," says John Mayer, a personality psychologist at the University of New Hampshire in Durham who was among the first to discuss the existence of an "emotional" intelligence. "It is possible that the increased research on emotions in the scientific community is filtering into the public to some degree."
Good or bad, feelings drive us
Psychiatrist John Sharp, who teaches at the medical schools of both Harvard University and the University of California-Los Angeles, says the growing awareness of emotions is relatively new.
Not too long ago, "there was a kind of perceived virtue in not 'giving in to your feelings,' " he says. "Now I think we are recognizing that our feelings drive our states of either well-being or ill health."
Research has shown that suppressing emotions can have health consequences, both physically and emotionally; it has been linked with conditions including high blood pressure, heart attack and liver disease.
Sharp, also a neuropsychiatrist, notes that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) lets researchers see changes in the brain — such as when someone is feeling love or fear or is concentrating. Scientists couldn't do that with X-rays, CT scans or MRIs until the relatively new step that enables researchers to measure the tiny metabolic changes that take place in an active part of the brain.
In his new book, The Emotional Calendar, Sharp says environmental, psychological and cultural factors affect mood and behavior. He suggests the seasons do bring emotional ups and downs — some people experience "winter doldrums," and others are affected by personal anniversaries at certain times of the year.
"The 'Great Recession' and joblessness and challenges that came with it" also have made people more aware of their emotions, suggests Travis Bradberry, co-author of the 2009 book Emotional Intelligence 2.0.
The "heavily charged political climate" has been a "particularly emotionally arousing period," he adds.
Bradberry says many people still ignore their emotions, but it's a mistake to not recognize that they can be a primary driver of behavior. "It's very easy to get numb to our emotions," he says.
'Macho' man image fading
That's why New York City psychotherapist Ronit Herzfeld says she created an iPhone app called Awareness ($3.99).
"The first thing it does is it stops you. It says, 'What are you feeling right now?' That's an unusual question," Herzfeld says. "It just gongs, and the prompt says to record your feelings."
The application invites users to take a deep breath, choose from eight mood categories and 115 feelings within those moods. It also offers brief videos to help people deal with these feelings. Herzfeld says the aim is to give people a daily diary of their feelings to learn how much time is spent feeling certain ways, such as happy or sad.
In fields such as business and politics, showing emotions in public used to be a taboo, but that seems to be changing — witness House Speaker John Boehner, who is known for the public tears he sheds. Former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also have expressed their emotions by crying publicly.
Sharp says the "macho" idea to keep feelings hidden is fading, and outward displays of emotion are becoming more accepted.
"I think people see the value of understanding where they're coming from emotionally."
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