By Daniel Goleman
Anyone can become angry—that is easy. But to be angry with the right person to the right degree at the right time for the right purpose and in the right way—that is not easy // Aristotle
Impulse is the medium of emotion, the seed of impulse is a feeling bursting to express itself in action
Those who are at the mercy of impulse suffer a moral deficiency
Our current circumstances call for self restraint and compassion
Our passions, when we’ll exercised, have wisdom
It is with the heart that one sees rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye
Emotions stems from Latin root motere: to move
Emotions prepare us for a response, they invite us into action
We have two minds: the emotional and the rational; the head and the heart. They are often in opposition. We say / think one thing but feel the other
The emotional mind is associated with the limbic system while the rational is associated with the neocortex
The olfactory bulb is wired tightly to the limbic system which is why smell is able to bring back strong emotions. The limbic system also evolved to give us memory and learning, which is why smells bring back vivid memories
Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel // Horace Walpole
“Emotional hijackings” occur when we “lose control” i.e. the limbic system overrides the neocortex
The amygdala is the center of the limbic system
During times of extreme emotions, the amygdala completely overrides the other centers of the brain, affording it full control of action and thought
It was previously thought that all sensory info flows to the thalamus then to the neocortex where it is distributed for further processing. In extreme occasions, sensory info can bypass the neocortex and go straight to the amygdala
Scientists severed the connection between the auditory processing center and neocortex and played rats a tone followed by a shock. The rats grew to react to the tone even though there was not cognition of it given the severed connection. This showed sensory info can bypass the neocortex and go straight to the amygdala