Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperStar  ...thinking intellectually, analyzing your emotions will never bring you full understanding and peace with them. |
I'm a strong proponent of using the appropriate tool for a specific job. As far as emotions are concerned, intellectual analysis is a useful tool for conceptualising emotions in a communicable fashion, can be used to alter emotions, but is completely unnecessary for the
experience of the emotion, and yes, when experiencing an emotion unfiltered, that emotion can be "understood" without needing to involve rational thought.
But as Gary says, emotions can be misinterpreted so there is danger in a false belief that one's emotional understanding is any more or less valid than intellectual understanding. It all depends on what you're trying to understand.
In terms of emotional mastery, someone with very little understanding of their emotions who attempts to immerse themselves is as likely to spiral out of control as to improve. In that case intellectual understanding and guidance can be useful in re-associating certain stimulus with positive instead of negative emotion, such as through the use of affirmations, or NLP, or CBT.