In this final post on this topic, I want to talk about 2 more emotions that may impact a person's emotional state of happiness - Anger and Love. If you've not read Part 1 or Part 2 yet, please do so or you'll be pretty lost.

In Part 1, we described what the Happiness Chart is, the difference between Happiness and Joy and how that may apply to the Happiness Chart.

In Part 2, we looked at my definition of EQ as a function of Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Control. We explored how all emotions should be embraced and that there are no good or bad emotions. Then, we looked into Sadness in a bit of detail.

Following up on that, we will not explore Anger and Love

Anger

Call it Anger, Frustration, Hatred, Disappointment in yourself. It is that fiery feeling that can either be a giant furnace causing you to scream, shout and flip tables (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ or small kindles that slowly burns within you and even the smallest agitation can cause it to spark and burn.

Anger has a different mechanism compared to Joy or Sorrow because it get's its energy from somewhere else. Instead of affecting your Happiness level, it actually takes energy from your Neutral Line and that can be very dangerous!

If you remember in Part 1, I described the Neutral line as "your natural state of being. How you are when you are alone with no external stimulation. Your internal satisfaction and happiness with life. It also has a gravitational force that pulls your Happiness state towards it over time."

If you get angry too much, it could actually pull your Neutral line below 0 on the Happiness scale causing sadness to be your natural state of being. Whenever you get angry, you are introducing more toxic into your mind and body. "I HATE THAT SON OF A B*TCH. HOW DARE HE JUST CUT IN FRONT OF THE ROAD LIKE THAT". But that's not all that happens. That small thought becomes a small fire kindle. The car behind you horns - the fire gets bigger. You barely missed the green light - the fire gets bigger. Fire needs fuel, and it is using your Neutral line to do that.

Overtime, you have a negative view of the world. You feel deflated and that the whole world is against you. Your natural state of being, is now sadness. Anger may be a powerful emotion that can be used to make powerful speeches or rouse your team to work harder. But, just like fire, it needs to be handled with care.

Forgiveness and Gratitude

If Anger pulls the Neutral line down, what pulls it back up is Forgiveness and Gratitude! Forgiveness is being able to let go of the past, of a memory that wronged you. You don't need that extra weight in your life! Gratitude is being grateful and thankful for the blessings in your life, whether the big promotion you got, or the love in your life, or even being thankful for the beautiful sunrise in the morning. There are countless benefits to being grateful (1,2).

By Forgiveness and Gratitude, you start being more positive in your life. That same asshole just cut you off again? Forgive him and be grateful that you're blessed enough to take a car to work instead of squeeze in the subway. Don't let him ruin the rest of your day. Don't let such a small fleeting moment control how the rest of your day goes.

Love

The last emotion I wanted to talk about is Love. Love is a confusing emotion and why I leave it for last is because I can't get it to fit in my model for Happiness - this Happiness Chart. There were moments in my life, where I feel so much love and joy in my life for someone, but end up sadder after maybe because of the thought of what could be or what may end up not happening. There has also been moments in my life which I felt so sad but end up happy immediately after maybe because of acceptance or just not giving a f*ck anymore.

These are emotions that I am still struggling with currently because I do not know how to position or identify with it. It is an anomaly or an outlier in my mental model for emotions. I'm very glad I get to experience it, but sometimes I'm not sure it's worth the confusion - cue emo song.

TL; DR version: It's not worth it being angry. Forgive and be grateful for a happy life. Love is confusing.

This is the end of this series. It's quite a long Shower Thought but I hope you enjoyed it. Maybe it can help you in someway, or maybe I just helped you past 5 minutes of your time in your procrastination. Either way, I hope you find it beneficial.

Please, comment or provide feedback. Ask questions! I'd like to hear your thoughts on the topic. Maybe you have another mental model for emotions that you use?