(somePeople often use the terms “emotions” and “feelings” interchangeably, but it can be helpful to understand the difference between them, as this aids in learning how to regulate ourselves when experiencing an emotional tsunami.  Antonio D’Amasio, a professor of neuroscience and author of several books on the subject, explains it as:

Feelings are mental experiences of body states, which arise as the brain interprets emotions, themselves physical states arising from the body’s responses to external stimuli. (The order of such events is: I am threatened, experience fear, and feel horror.)

In other words, an emotion is a physiological experience (or state of awareness) that gives us information about the world, and our feelings are our conscious awareness of the emotion itself.  Our feelings then are mental portrayals of what is going on in our bodies when we have an emotion.  Feelings are the byproduct of our brains perceiving and assigning meaning to the emotion.  Feelings are the next thing that happens after having an emotion.  They involve cognitive input, are usually subconscious, and cannot be measured precisely.

It is important to remember that individual emotions are temporary, (the lifespan of an emotion is 90 seconds) but the feelings they evoke may persist and grow.  This happens because the feelings triggered by emotions are not isolated to that particular emotional stimulus, as they are influenced by thoughts, memories, and images that have become subconsciously linked with that particular emotion for you.

“The way to heal pain, the only way, is to feel and release it.  Your pain is your pain. Your fear, desperation, and resentments are yours, too.  All these emotions belong to you.  Feel them, learn from them, and let them go” (Melody Beattie, Journey to the Heart, 1996).