Emotions occur in the response to some trigger. Triggers can be a sight, a sound, a smell, or a thought. Triggers lead to emotions/thoughts. Once the emotion occurs, we are activated to take action. Many unpleasant emotions (95% to 99%) occur due to our automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) that we developed as children. These ANTs are based on our perception of ourselves and our world as children before we were seven years old. These are not helpful and we need to change them to thoughts that are based on our adult understanding of the world. Watch this video by Dr. Lipton to understand this concept more thoroughly.
There are about six primary or basic emotions that most of us are born with. We are born with the potential or the biological readiness to experience the emotions. These basic emotions include: fear, sorrow, joy, interest (curiosity), guilt/shame, and disgust. Emotions are signals that help us develop healthy relationships with others.
Emotions are natural and normal. They are biologically wired. We need them in order to survive. They motivate and organize us for action. They communicate our needs to ourselves and to others. They help us understand our environment and the people with whom we have contact.
