Chapter 6 Range of Feelings
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes. because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
—Jellaludin Rumi
When exploring the terrain of feelings, it is useful to address the distinction between emotions and feelings. They are essentially the same side of a coin with feelings arising from emotions. An emotion is a physiological experience that provides us with data about our world while the feeling is our conscious awareness of the emotion. McLaren’s work on empathy and feelings provides a helpful pathway from empathy to feelings. As shown in Figure 6.1, first an emotion arises, we feel it viscerally, allowing us to name it, and finally, we act upon it.
Figure 6.1 Pathway from Emotion to Action
Our capacity to track physiological cues of an emotion brings a feeling into our conscious awareness, ...
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