Emotions Like Waves

“Why do they feel so calm? as they touch my feet,

standing on the rough sandy shore.

The same waves that drowned me yesterday,

are now so gentle.

It feels good, it feels calm”.

-Beaula

This analogy came to mind at one point in my life when I felt a lot of negative emotions one day, and the complete opposite the next day as my problem came to an end. Like waves, I felt I was drowning in negative emotions one day and the next day the peace and calm that I felt, felt like a gentle ripple of a wave comforting me. It made me realise emotions are like waves, it is present and it is real and most of all it is out of my control as I could not stop myself from feeling those things but rather just stay there and experience what I was going through.

We as humans feel multiple emotions daily, ranging from anger to sadness to happiness and tranquility. Being the complex beings we are we not only feel one emotion at a time but can feel multiple of them at a single moment ranging from different intensities that vary from time to time. Thus we understand that emotions come in all different colours, shapes and sizes, of which some are favourable and some of which we want to avoid experiencing.

It is only normal and natural to not want to experience negative emotions as they can not only affect the current state of mind but if experienced for an intense or a prolonged period can cause long-term damage to both a person's physical and mental health as well as rupture the persons' sense of self. Unfortunately as living beings, it is not possible to turn off the switch of feeling emotions as per our need, and even when some, individuals, mention that they feel numb or devoid of emotions it mostly is the result of long term or prolonged exposure to experiencing numerous negative emotions that stem from various life events.

So does this mean we are helpless and hopeless in the face of negative emotions? Although we may feel that way it is not the case. Yes, indeed, we can't control when emotions come and go just like waves. But it is also true that just like we can learn to swim or surf waves we can also learn various strategies to cope with negative emotions that we deal with on a day-to-day basis.

Coping with emotions first requires us to understand that emotions are normal to experience and that we may not have the power to stop them from coming. Spending time and sitting with are negative emotions may not be an easy task but it helps us understand how we truly feel when we experience them and how they have an impact on us. By sitting with our emotions we are not only letting ourselves go through what we are going through but we also develop insight as to how and how long we experience them, what intensities we feel them in, what we tell ourselves when we feel them, how others around us are affected, what triggers them and what do we do to make ourselves feel better.

Ergo just as a Physical Oceanographer studies waves to understand them and make forecasts, understanding and facing our emotions can also help us learn more about our emotions and their triggers and also urge us to explore coping strategies to deal with the negative emotions when we face them.