Having provided an operational definition and description of what an “emotion” is (#1-#3) and that no every emotion is a real emotion (#4), I now want to present another perspective for thinking about emotions- one that will assist in experiencing more emotional mastery.
The perspective is to view any given emotion on a continuum. If you think about your emotions in terms of a continuum, you can get a fuller and richer view of your emotions. If you position any given emotion (the basic emotions) on a continuum, you thereby make it possible to begin to identify the other emotions that cluster around that one. This will enable you to see the relationship between similar emotions and that will lead you to see how one emotion can shade or evolve into another emotion.
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