You asked. Here’s the answer:
What’s the difference between emotions and feelings?
Let’s start with simple definitions.
An emotion is an automatic, impulsive, physical reaction to the environment.
A feeling is the meaning you attach to the emotion, at the moment you felt the emotion.
Have you thought about emotions as impulses, before? They are automatic impulses that you can’t avoid. They are sometimes triggered by a thought, sometimes not.
An emotion comes up and passes through your body in 90 seconds.
It’s a physical sensation that you may or may not notice.
What follow after the emotion is gone, are feelings:
- the meaning you attach to the emotion
- the stressful state you spin yourself into
- how much you think and worry about it
- the stories you tell yourself
Feelings are ways in which you interpret your emotions.
They are the result of your previous experience and past learning. In other words, your feelings are ways you learned to cope with your emotions.
Some examples:
Happiness is an emotion.
Good mood is a feeling.
Sadness is an emotion.
Pain is a feeling.
Anger is an emotion.
Hunger is a feeling.
Because emotions don’t last long, it’s possible to overlook them and only notice the feelings that follow. Also, the difference between emotions and feelings may not be obvious as you use ‘feel” to express both.
You can recognize the difference with self-awareness.
Ask yourself:
- is this an emotion or a feeling?
- is there a meaning I’m associating with something?
- am I managing my mind in a way that is making me [stressed, overwhelmed, anxious]?
Important to remember:
You can’t avoid your emotions.
But you can choose your feelings.
