sophie howell carlisle, cumbria, uk sunflower city | acrylic on canvas 19
jonathan o’hair norman, oklahoma, usa PSyChology Everything psychological is simultaneously biological. In our bodies, there are chemical reactions to literally every single emotion we have. Pain, frustration, anger, boredom, anticipation, joy, relief, empathy, and wrath are all triggered by a biological gun. Science can’t tell us all of the secrets of the mind, but it can shed some light on the mystery that is our very own emotional balance. What most people don’t know is that there is a steady truce between the biological functions of the body and the mental responses of the mind. Even though I hate scientific explanations as much as the next guy, I paid close attention to what that balance literally means in common language. That balance is the main driving force in whether you are happy or sad. Even though we can’t literally measure those levels of happiness, science can still pinpoint one of the main outlets of function starting at the different nervous systems. If you’ve ever played a sport, been in a car wreck, or even pumped yourself up for a job interview, you’ve experienced the effects of the sympathetic nervous system. You know when your heart rate speeds up and your blood pressure rises, time literally slows down. And if something alarms, challenges, or threatens you, the sympathetic nervous system is there to allow you to be at your best physically. Unfortunately, going back to the balance, there also has to be a physical reckoning for every action our mind takes. The parasympathetic nervous system is that tired feeling after your sympathetic stress. The crash at the end of a sugar rush, if you will. But what does that have to do with our emotions, and our happiness level. Sadly enough, the basic principal used in the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems is used in our emotional outlets. With every single feeling of happiness, there will be a different but proportional feeling of sadness. So the true culprits behind the frustration at stoplights, the anxiety in airports and elevators, and the anger at an insult is not the outside stimulus so much, but rather that our bodies are compensating for previous emotions. It is the same when you laugh at something you didn’t think you found that funny or when you enjoy a movie you know you don’t like. If external conflicts are a fire, then our biological functions are the match, and the phrase “Don’t let that bother you” never seemed so impossible. 20
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