Identify, Translate And Express Difficult Emotions

When we talk about difficult emotions we refer to those that are not presented in their pure state, that is, the majority, such as when you feel hate and love at the same time (which happens almost always), or when compassion is mixed with anger or anger with sadness. Sometimes everything is experienced globally as a discomfort, but it is not possible to specify what are the emotions that produce a certain emotional state.

Sometimes, especially if we are not used to it, we have to do hard work to specify them, translate them into thought and express them out loud. Each of these steps sometimes becomes very complex, but it is also the way out of an emotional state that we do not want.

In a strict sense, there are not  enough or exact words to express difficult emotions. Perhaps that is why poetry exists; a polysemic language that reflects the imprecision of the feelings and emotions that inhabit us. Beyond artistic manifestations, sometimes we have to, anyway, find the means to communicate.

Difficult emotions and their expressions

A reflection of how complicated the process of calibrating and expressing difficult emotions can be is found in the fact  that words are not translated from one language to another. There is no way to carry their meaning from one language to another, precisely because they have a particular mark of complexity or are closely associated with a particular social context. Let’s look at some examples of this:

• Freizeitstress. It is a German word that refers to the stress experienced when doing activities simply to fill free time.

• Lithost. It is a Czech word that has to do with the feeling that appears when we realize that we are miserable and it seems to us that this is irremediable.
• Gigil. A Filipino term that means wanting to “squeeze” or “squash” something, because of the tenderness it provokes us.
• Sukha. An expression in Sanskrit to define that type of happiness that does not feel like fleeting, but transcendental. A deeply happy and lasting happiness.

On many occasions, when translating, we have no way of transferring these strange terms from one language to another without lengthening the text . We can’t find a way to identify, translate, or express those difficult emotions. We do not know the word that manages to specify them. This causes us discomfort because the possibility of naming something is what also allows us to address it.

The way to identify difficult emotions

Basically we are used to pigeonhole our emotions into five fundamental groups: joy, sadness, anger, fear and disgust. Sometimes, indeed, what we feel corresponds to one of those basic emotions. However, there are also times when all of these emotions are too global to allow us to be precise. Our fear is disgust or our fearful rage.

What configures difficult emotions is the fact that they mix other emotions, apparently very different from each other. In order to identify them, the first capacity that comes into play is to make our thinking more flexible. Understand that we cannot find a categorical way to name them, since they do not correspond to categorical feelings.

We must also shed the temptation to value emotions from an ethical plane: there are no bad or good emotions. In fact, potentially, in terms of its consequences, an emotion can be very good or very bad.

What will ultimately decide in our management of that emotion and associated energy. In other words, an emotion cannot be a precedent for our actions, but never justify them. On the other hand, it is important to abandon the idea of ​​reconciling the irreconcilable. Sad joy is sad joy and it is not mandatory that one of the two ends up dominating the other.

The importance of defining and expressing

The expression liberates, as well as the impossibility of saying compresses and stresses. Likewise, saying in words what we feel enriches communication with others, also improving the quality of our internal dialogue. In addition, it fosters understanding, understanding, empathy and peace, internal and external.

To give voice to these difficult emotions, an analysis exercise is necessary that allows us to separate the emotions that have given rise to the global state, as well as the influence of each one.

If it is a raging joy, then we speak of joy and anger. When it comes to disgusting and fearful sadness, there are three basic emotions involved. Sure, each of these concepts can be better specified. Anger can be irritation, rage, annoyance, and a thousand other nuances. It is important to find the word that best suits what we feel.

An exercise that helps to complete that process of identifying, translating and expressing difficult emotions is the following. Try to build a sentence with the beginning “I feel … when …”. Try to apply that phrase to all the emotions that are involved. At the end, make a recount of what has been written and try to integrate it. It is an interesting exercise that sometimes results in poetry and always a better understanding of our emotional state.