Love.it.or.hate.it.

Love it or hate it we are all susceptible to it.

We don’t understand it. 

Try to remove it, ignore it, dull it or kill it. 

We find ourselves influenced and persuaded by it but are not always convinced of it. 

We are driven by it and yet rage against it. 

Woman are mocked for it and men deny it. 

However, if it were removed from who we are we would not be classified as human beings. 

It differentiates us from robots and inanimate objects.

It holds us vulnerable to life itself. 

It gives fullness to everyday experiences and adds dimension to simplistic moments.

e·mo·tion

noun

1. an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness.

2. any of the feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, love, etc.

3. any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by experiencing love, hate, fear, etc., and usually accompanied by certain physiological changes, as increased heartbeat or respiration, and often overt manifestation, as crying or shaking.

4. something that causes such a reaction: the powerful emotion of a great symphony.

We relate to emotion.

When Mr Darcy speaks to Elizabeth Bennet in the last chapter of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice there is a very distinct well of emotion as he utters the following:

“You must know... surely, you must know it was all for you. You are too generous to trifle with me. I believe you spoke with my aunt last night, and it has taught me to hope as I'd scarcely allowed myself before. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever. If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.”

When a friend is crying. 

When I baby is screaming. 

When a stranger is laughing. 

When a beautiful piece of music stirs you deep within. 

When the adrenaline rush of shock paralyzes your body. 

When an accomplishment wells up a sense of pride. 

When excitement about seeing someone gets you talking too fast. 

When knowledge brings peace to the frantic unknown. 

When hope is birthed within the arms of a lover. 

When clarity enables good decision-making. 

When joy is found in a simple act of kindness.

I know that my most heightened emotions have come from loving someone. 

I know that the moments where I have felt the most joy or the most hurt have been with those I am closest to because it is in love that we find ecstatic, overwhelming joy and deep-seated hurt simply because of the intimacy shared with someone else.

Mark Twain said, “Any emotion, if it is sincere, is involuntary.”

We may not fully understand it but I think we could begin with appreciating it.

Emotion enhances how we see and act and breathe and move on this planet.

It adds colour to the dull normality of our existence.

Love it or hate it we are susceptible to it.