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Thought to ponder...

One of the great things of the last few generations is that we've become far more emotionally aware as a culture. When I think back to my grandparents' generati...on, they didn't allow themselves to say or feel pretty much anything. This was obviously incredibly unhealthy. But sometimes I feel like in gaining awareness of our emotions, our culture has come to over-estimate our emotions. Our emotions become justifications for actions, political causes, and even social policies. This isn't healthy either. Emotions are just there. It doesn't matter how secure you become, you will never NOT experience fear. It doesn't matter how amazing your life is, you will never truly eliminate sadness. Same with guilt and anxiety and shame. These will never leave us, no matter what we do. Therefore, the trick isn't to defeat negative emotions, the trick is to reorient the meaning of our negative emotions. To find some greater purpose for feeling what we feel. It's from this reorientation that all of the human virtues emerge. From fear: bravery. From guilt: charity. From anger: honesty.