Our emotions play an integral role in how we view ourselves and the world around us

Emotions can be tools, stumbling blocks and barometers of our health. Experiencing a wide range of emotions is an indication one is healthy and human. Some emotions are perceived to be negative and some positive. Some are considered bad and some good. There is a school of thought that it is for the best to bring emotions under one's control, and to weed out all emotions which are considered bad or negative. There is another school of thought which believes that to experience all emotions to their fullest is preferable.

I believe that somewhere in the middle lies the best route. I believe all emotions have validity and a purpose, that in order to be whole we must allow ourselves to feel both positive and negative, both 'good' and 'bad' emotions. I believe that labelling emotions as good or bad, negative or positive is unnecessary. Such labels are subjective creatures, and can change depending upon one's cultural, religious, familial surroundings.

Rather than spend time in defining an emotion as good or bad, ponder what the emotion is. What is this emotion? From where does it arise? What event in my life has evoked this response?

To squelch emotions, to deny them, to refuse them entry into your self, is akin to lopping off a finger, or a couple of toes. Instead of ruthlessly cutting out an emotion, give it a guide. It may be that you have separated emotions already into good and bad categories, or have in some way defined which emotions are allowable on your chosen Path in life, and which are not. Do not allow your Acceptable Emotions to be all-consuming, leaving no room for other emotions, other interests, other events in life. Do not try to excise emotions completely. The emotion exists within you for a reason. Discern the reason, do what you need to do in order to alleviate the situation, and the emotion will recede.

When you exercise control over your emotions, setting the limits as to when and how much they are active in your life, then you will be able to set them aside completely when necessary. There are times when emotions get in the way of action. If you are being mugged on the streets, stopping to feel and analyze the situation may cause you greater harm. It is time to act, to take the offensive and neutralize the situation. If you have lost a loved one, there are many details that must be arranged in order to lay that person's body to rest. It is not the time to lock one's self into the closet and hide for a week with a box of tissues. This is not to say the emotions which accompany being mugged or losing a loved one are eliminated or gone. They are still there, underneath the surface. When the time is right, and you will likely intuitively know when this time is, let them out and wallow in them a while. Allow yourself the luxury of revelling in your angst, your grief, your fear. Let it wrap itself around you, wrap yourself around it. And then let it go.

If you allow yourself to experience emotions on the extremes of the pendulum, and then set them aside when you've explored and learned all you can from the situation which prompted them, you will find that in general life is liveable. By allowing all emotions to have room within one's self, you will find that each emotion is made more precious, has more value and worth. Deep love means more when a person has experienced deep hate. Great friendship means more when one has experienced great loss. Most days you will find that the emotions you experience are nearer to the middle of the balance. If you've cut out an entire set of emotions however, or refuse to allow yourself to feel things to an extreme, you may find that your daily existence is filled with extreme emotions as a general rule. This is an unhealthy state to live within, and unless you take steps to moderate your approach to your emotions and emotional health, you may cause yourself physical ill health, mental disease and a stunting of the spirit.

To sum it up then:

• Emotions exist. They are neither bad nor good, for that is a subjective value imposed upon them.
• Emotions range in intensity, in general manifesting themselves in a moderate manner.
• Emotions can be controlled, and in some occasions should be. The 'shoulds' are also subjective and vary from person to person. My reasons will be different from someone else's reasons.
• Cutting out emotions from one's life causes negative results.

"It is as healthy to enjoy sentiment as to enjoy jam." -G. K. Chesterton (1928)

"In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing." -Antonio Porchia (1968)

"Emotion has taught mankind to reason." -Vauvenargues (1746)