What is your Favorite Emotion?

[ignoramus]

What about the wonderful "relief" one feels when backing out a beauty! (Where's Cath when you need her?)

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

The feeling of Kalbenfarbanüblifitenschwabelierungsbrafüglerei.

There's no English translation for it.

Is that the evenly-split sense of elation/despair one feels when reminiscing about the Great Bratwurst Famine Of 1995?

Boru

[Regina]

[ErGingerbreadMandude]

Anger.
Hands down best motivator ever,imo.

[vorlon13]

schadenfreude

[Edwardo Piet]

Anger.
Hands down best motivator ever,imo.

Depends. Ecstatic over-enthusiasm can go a long way, you should see me when I'm manic.

Also, motivation can be used for good or for evil

I think above all the most motivating emotions, whether they're anger, enthusiasm or whatever -- tend to in their most extreme and effective form be very charismatic. Because just like how there is good and bad motivation -- there is good and bad charisma too.

Hiter was charismatic. In a bad way. He's so infamous for a reason. And not just because he was the leader of Germany who committed genocide -- He's the perfect example of someone who used anger in a bad way for evil, even if he genuinely believed he was righteous and just.

Emotional appeal is extremely effective: Regardless of if it's used for good, or for evil.

Anger may or may not be the best motivator, it's either the best, second best or equal best -- but it can certainly also be the worst. Not worst as in ineffective -- worst as in effective in a bad way. The ends don't justify the means when the ends turn out to be quite different in practice externally on the outside to how they were envisioned as an ideal internally within the mind.

P.S. I use the word "evil" in a very tongue-in-cheek way because I can't think of a better word to use. I generally don't think "evil" is a helpful word, I don't really believe in it at least in the sense that no matter how malevolent someone is or immoral certain acts are: The word "evil" tends to hugely simplify matters.

[Edwardo Piet]

By the way -- I rate enthuisasm higher than excitement because it's like excitement that is necessarily expressed and it's very passionate. Excitement can be felt within internally in combination with anxiety and a failure to be expressed or let out passionately. Excitement can be kept inside or expressed outwardly and I much prefer the latter, and I call it enthusiasm.

It's another reason I rate cheerful happiness above mere happiness. Happiness is more fun when it shows on the outside. Sure, you can be cheerful without actually being genuinely happy. But IMO that is only seeming cheerful, not being cheerful -- because cheerfulness is both an emotion and expression.

The great thing about cheerfulness is it is both an outward expression of happiness AND it's a feeling.

I'd rate cheerfulness as one of my absolute favorites. When you're genuinely cheerful you both seem and feel cheerful. Whereas it's possible to feel happy without seeming it or seem happy without feeling it: Cheerfulness sends to be congruent and necessarily authentic.

I think cheerfulness is authentic happiness. Whether it's expressed enthusiastically and energetically or quietly and introvertedly. Anyone who is happy can be cheerful, even in a shy and quiet way.

So I think cheerfulness can be expressed quietly or loudly. Intensely or midly. Confidently or shly. I think cheerfulness is simply: Authentic happiness. So second to love, I would say cheerfulness is my favorite emotion.

In a funny way I think cheerfulness and love are very similar -- I just think often when people love they feel very cheerful but that is only half of love. Half is a lot but it's still only half. The other half I think is compassion. I think it's like the two sides of the same coin -- compassion for suffering on the one side of the coin, sympathetic joy for the happiness of others-- as opposed to envy, jealousy, or schadenfreude -- on the other side of the coin.

So add joy + authenticity and you get cheerfulness. Add cheerfulness to compassion and you get love.

Of course this almost certainly still grossly oversimplifies the supreme beautiful complexity that is the emotion of love, in it's many forms -- for a start when it comes to romantic love, there's a lot more to it -- it also implies a lot of trust, affection, attraction and other positive feelings of being genuinely and enjoyably in love -- but it's a start and it's how I feel right now as I express my love of emotion and expressing emotion, right now

[Excited Penguin]

I could fall asleep reading your blocks of text. I can't even concentrate on them, because they're so devoid of substance.

Ugh.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Apparently you haven't figured out how to use the ignore feature?

It's really not that hard, but if you'd like some help I can walk you through it.

[Edwardo Piet]

True: but no one is allowed to use the ignore feature on me because I'm a staff member.

EP, if you don't want to read my big blocks of text I suggest you just scroll past my posts. That's my advice.