The idea of Numbness..?

Question

What would you call the feeling of being numb that comes out of constantly reminding yourself of what youre "feeling"?
It's as if I'll say "this is happiness" or "this is sadness" to myself as I'm experiencing an emotion and I can't feel it anymore; the reminder, or maybe the analysis of the the emotion, makes it go away, makes it seem like not happiness or sadness or whatever emotion matters because it's all relative and it disappears. But there's some sort of sticky layer of negativity that takes the place of the emotion; Instead the feeling's being replaced with this sort of nausea.. just a general sickness at the idea that it's hard to feel much of anything (besides this sort of nauseated disgust) anymore. Sounds emo, doesn't it? Maybe it's just too hot and humid and sticky in this house and it's all just physical reactions.. Help?

Answer 1

It is natural for the brain to sort things. And it is natural for your brain to do things automatically. This is what seems to be working against you. But don't worry, it's not just you.

One person may look at a parking lot and see a bunch of cars and nothing more. And having decided that they are cars he will see nothing else about them. Someone who likes cars can probably look at the same lot and pick out the models, perhaps identify their years of manufacture and the like. And a true connoisseur of cars might spend hours enraptured in a single vehicle, noting whether the wear was typical of that model or not, whether any of the features were changed from the original, and perhaps even seeing patterns that the manufacturers themselves never envisioned.

So it seems to me that your problem is that you are CATEGORIZING your feelings instead of SAVOURING them.

Don't experience your emotions like an alcoholic who pours booze down his throat simply to get drunk. Enjoy each taste in the finest specifics possible. If you have time to prepare, you can script emotional occurrences ahead in your mind, so you can be ready to notice the finer points, like sniffing the cork of a bottle of wine you are about to taste. Then ease into your feelings. Let the feeling describe itself to you... sure you may be happy, but is that also with a hint of nostalgia? And then, when your experience is done, you can consider what you have felt afterwards. Feel it drifting into your memory as so many others have before, and see it fitting into the mosaic that is your history.

Joy, sadness, fear, pleasure, and all emotions can be truly wonderful things, each beautiful in its own way. Like works of art, none of them are necessarily destroyed by analysis as long as you do that gentle, cooperative probing of an archaeologist instead of the careless digging of a bad construction worker. It is part of the human experience, and one you deserve to have.

Enjoy.

Answer 2

Wendy - FOCUSING on an emotion helps your body to release it. EMOTIONS are ENERGIES in motion in the body. Emotions are meant to be FULLY FELT and then released. In between feeling emotions (like joy or fear or sadness) humans exist at a 'centered' place of 'everything is okay.' This is a neutral feeling (maybe what you are thinking of numbness). You can reach this neutral feeling very easily. For one minute just stop moving, close your eyes and stop your thoughts. This is the basic feeling of existence.

According to Dr. John Gray (author of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus") in his book "What You Feel You Can Heal" emotions are meant to pass through the body quickly. Nature designed humans so that the feeling of any emotion should pass as quickly 'as in a good belly laugh.' Think about a time when someone said or did something that REALLY made you laugh hard...how long did you laugh? That is the amount of time that people SHOULD feel any emotion. The reason most people get stuck feeling some emotions (like people who are angry or sad ALL THE TIME) is because when they start to feel an emotion they ignore it, suppress it or 'push' it away. They don't want to deal with the emotion so they never really release it and the energy stays in their body.

Answer 3

Try watching the movie Forbidden Planet. Whatever's out there, is what you've created.

Answer 4

try to stop being so self analytic.
you destroy your pleasant emotions in this way.
a classical poet said that critics kill to dissect .
lead a natural life , enjoy your moments as they pass away never to come back.