So now my answer to the third and last question of the week.

Do I appreciate others to be open about their emotions?

I think I can say that I am. In fact, I would even say that I almost NEED for people to be open about their emotions, especially if I am somewhat involved in causing those emotions.
If there is something I said or did that made someone angry for instance, I want them to tell me what that was. I can be a bit of an idiot when it comes to these kinds of things. I'm not the most diplomatic person in the world and tact is not my middle name. So sometimes I say things that come out differently than I wanted it to sound and some people don't appreciate this. If people don't tell me if it offended them, I will never know! I can guess, but I'm no fucking mind reader and you could pretty much say that my mind is male 🤣🤣. It's not done on purpose: I just really don't have a clue. There's is one thing I hate more than anything: If I ask you what is going on and the person in question tells me: "Nothing." But then goes on stomping around like a little child. I used to have an ex like that, the father of my two middle children and I don't think there is much guess work when it comes to why he is an ex...
I would ask what the matter was, he would tell me 'nothing' and then start banging doors and stomping up and down the stairs, waking every single soul in the house. I have very little patience with people like that and once they say 'nothing' but I know there's 'something' I still note it as nothing until they can behave like a normal human being, and not some raging monkey. Unfortunately, my eldest son has got this same trait. He's the sweetest thing most of the time, but when he's tired, or upset about something (he's the middle child, so he sometimes feels left out...which is not the case by the way) he does these kinds of things. Annoying to say the least and I usually just tell him that if he decides he wants to talk he can come to me, but until then I ignore the baboon behavior.

Then there is the positive emotion. I ADORE those. So please! If you're happy (it doesn't have to be about anything I did) about something: please share! If others are happy, I am too!

If it's emotional spaghetti, please use it sparingly in my presence.

I think I am an empath. The reason why I say that I think I am, is because I don't want to stamp myself with a title I know little about. All I know is that I suck up other people's energies and emotions like I own them.
This can be a good thing and I love to listen to others, but for my own good, I have to step away from some people sometimes. I used to work with women who had birth-trauma to work through. I loved that job because I always understood their side of the story and I LOVED being able to help them. They often told me afterwards that it seemed like I took all their troubles with me. And I did. The number of times that I was sitting in my car crying my eyes out after I left their homes can't be counted on two hands. They told me their story, I offered my opinion and knowledge about this and they gave me their troubles as a present. Wrapped up with a bow. And I cried. For all the sorrow and pain they had been going through. And as much as I loved the job, it was getting to me. This is one of the reasons why I could never be a journalist in a war zone. Not because of the dangers. No - but because of all the pain and sorrow I would have to see and feel. All the innocent people who were suffering. I think it would be the end of me.

The emotional alchemist

Personally, I think I'm a bit of a magician when it comes to emotions. I can go from annoyed to happy in an instance or from frustrated to understanding. I blame my Western and Chinese star signs. Double water sign, so I flow like the moon and ocean. See how easy that is, not to take responsibility? But I'll do it this time.
I can be angry one moment and regret it in the next. To be honest, being angry is my least favorite emotion and think about it: it is never pleasant to be or feel angry. To me it means that my reptilian brain has taken over and my mind goes haywire. Not good. So even though it happens sometimes, I nearly always regret it right away and therefore it can happen that I go from this reptilian way of being to making a click in my mind to the other side of that feeling: back to me. I don't believe anger is an emotion that should represent a person. It's just not who we are. Kind and loving is, so even though it exists, I like to dismiss anger and turn it into something else.

I have very little understanding for people who are angry or sad or frustrated all the time. Not that I am not trying to, but I just don't understand why they don't want to change that. We have this within our own power, to change this, but most people haven't got a clue on how to do this. Pessimists are not my kind of people and they will know this. If I care for them, I will try to help, but I can only do so much. Unfortunately (or not), my mother was one of those people. Nothing was ever right, nothing or no one was ever good enough and no one could be trusted. A day out shopping with her could turn into a nightmare in an instant when something didn't go her way. We didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things. And I just couldn't understand why she would make her life so much harder than it needed to be. She's since passed and now I regret not making more of an effort to understand. I miss her now and even her complaining. But if there was ever an energy vampire that could take your feel-good emotions from you in an instance, it was her.

It did teach me a little about people and their ways and since then I have tried to conquer my aversion to similar people and try to help them out of their misery and into something better. As for my children, I try to teach them to always be open about their emotions. Especially with me and hopefully later with others who will be important in their lives.
There is nothing we can't talk about, except for that which they don't talk about. I'm always trying to let them know they can come to me with anything, even if they think the world will end. So I guess from spending time with my children, I'm slowly becoming more patient with others and their emotions.
Even if they throw me an emotional spaghetti bowl ranging from angry to happy and sad and frustrated to happy again, I will try my very best to offer understanding and try to get to the bottom of the issue. But if it were up to me, we'd strip ourselves of every emotion there is and be left with just one. Because if you truly think about it,
what other emotion than

'Happy'

do we really need?