Negative emotions (fear, sadness, anger) are our first line of defense against external threats (calling us to battle stations)
- Fear is a signal that danger is lurking, sadness is a signal that loss is impending, and anger signals that something is trespassing against us.
- In evolution – danger, loss, and trespass are all threats to survival itself.
- These external threats are all win-lose
- The more serious the outcome, the more intense these emotions.
- Fight to the death
- arouses emotions to the most extreme forms.
Re-source: Reliance
Someone had a pet lizard and it wasn’t eating anything so he was worried.
One day he put the newspaper above the ham and cheese croissant and the lizard shredded up the paper and then ate the sandwich.
- It needed to shred, pounce and stalk before it
built up the strength to eat.
- Hunting is a lizardly virtue
- So essential was the exercise of this strength that the appetite of the lizard could not be opened until the strength had been engaged.
Human beings are much more complex. But all our complexities sit on top of an emotional grain that has been shaped for hundreds of millions of years by natural selection.
craving and resource from “Authentic Happiness” by Martin Selegman
