We all have many emotions every moment. With decades of life experience, we’ve got dozens or hundreds of feeling-memory associations. Our emotions are constantly at work. They drive us to achieve our goals and help us to avoid our fears.
Just consider the things you want the most. Do you have an emotional charge around your desires? Is there a longing or a fear? Your emotions are partially dictating the way you live your life. This means emotions are constantly with you. What you consider a “normal” or “clear” state of mind is actually comprised of many emotions. You’ve just gotten used to the emotions, therefore, you no longer notice them.
Think about a person with depression. That person is acutely aware of the painful emotions they have every moment. Whether sadness, despair, or fear, that person can feel their intense negative emotions all the time. Happy people are no different. It’s just that happy people have positive emotions or fewer negative emotions.
Why is it so hard to feel these background emotions? The answer is that humans get adapt to their circumstances. When an emotion sticks around for a while, we stop noticing it.
