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Einschmidt
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23 Sep 2016, 9:34 pm

When you think about it love and happiness are the only ones that feel good. The rest such as hate, sadness, fear, anger, guilt, disgust etc all feel bad.


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Mootoo
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23 Sep 2016, 10:08 pm

The amygdala probably came about due to survival situations... which is what emotions are mostly about. Even happiness is an amalgamation of concepts, and mostly fleeting anyway. But, yes, the glass is certainly half-empty in the brain.



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23 Sep 2016, 10:30 pm

I was just reading in Psychology Today and it does mention the amygdala and how we remember negative thoughts easier:

In our brains, there are two different systems for negative and positive stimuli. The amygdala uses approximately two thirds of its neurons to detect negative experiences, and once the brain starts looking for bad news, it is stored into long-term memory quickly. Positive experiences have to be held in our awareness for more than 12 seconds in order for the transfer from short-term to long-term memory. Rick Hanson describes it in this way: “The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences but Teflon for positive ones.”

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wi ... r-negative

I read The Secret and was doing pretty good with the positive thinking and great things were really happening, but you have to actually keep thinking positively, which is really hard (especially when I have Grumpy Cat on my screensaver).


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0_equals_true
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24 Sep 2016, 6:15 am

This is more a question about language usage.

Joyful
Satisfied
Euphoric
Pride
Content
Happy
Amused
Inspired
Loved
Serene
Relaxed
Gratitude
Cheerful
Kindness
Admiration
Enthusiastic

There are some emotions that are neither good or bad such as nostalgia.



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24 Sep 2016, 7:20 am

Because all conditioned existence is suffering? :wink:
If you want to think dualistically, only considering "good" and "bad," "negative" and "positive," as mentioned above there are plenty of positive emotions besides love and happiness. Maybe you just aren't feeling them (assuming this post is related to feeling more negative than positive emotions?) because of possibly depression? Might be worth consideration.


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BaalChatzaf
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24 Sep 2016, 11:49 am

Einschmidt wrote:
When you think about it love and happiness are the only ones that feel good. The rest such as hate, sadness, fear, anger, guilt, disgust etc all feel bad.


guilt and shame are not necessarily negative. They are regulative and corrective. If we did not feel guilt or shame we would not stop doing bad things...


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0_equals_true
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24 Sep 2016, 12:35 pm

BaalChatzaf wrote:
guilt and shame are not necessarily negative. They are regulative and corrective. If we did not feel guilt or shame we would not stop doing bad things...

Empathy, Anxiety/fear, etc.

This is the biological basis for morality, which so we can live in large groups. There is proto-morality in the great apes.



BaalChatzaf
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24 Sep 2016, 4:22 pm

Einschmidt wrote:
When you think about it love and happiness are the only ones that feel good. The rest such as hate, sadness, fear, anger, guilt, disgust etc all feel bad.


What about curiosity. What about solving a problem - oh the joy of success! What about enjoying a sunset just because it is beautiful. Anger and guilt have uses. They help us to avoid repeating bad acts.


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24 Sep 2016, 9:24 pm

There's the issue of perspective OP: what you see depends somewhat on where you stand. There are not just two positive emotional experiences, there is a great number and variety:

http://positiveemotionslist.com/



Kiriae
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25 Sep 2016, 6:04 am

There is equal amount of positive and negative emotions(for example happy vs sad), soft and strong emotions (calm vs anger) and emotions that give you strength or discourage you (love vs anxiety).
What emotion you feel most often depends on your view for life(pessimist, optimist) and whatever or not you have any issues going on, for example depression(default sadness) or being in love(default happiness, unless unfulfilled).



OdysseusNemo
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25 Sep 2016, 7:29 am

BaalChatzaf wrote:
guilt and shame are not necessarily negative. They are regulative and corrective. If we did not feel guilt or shame we would not stop doing bad things...


LOL. Guilt and shame are like the appendix--- an organ you can do fine without and which mainly exists to get inflamed and hurt you for no useful reason


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