When you get right down to it, Emotions are the other half of what keeps humans going. The first half being Logic. However there have been so many differing views on certain emotions, that it's often hard to gauge what the right ones.

There are some who think the idea of emotions in general is positive:

While others believe emotions are the downfall of society:

There are even some who think some emotions are good while others are bad and constantly argue which ones:

However when you get right down to it, despite how people think or feel about them, everyone reacts to emotions the same way. With emotions. One gets mad, for example others either sympathize, get scared or see the angry one as the problem or the fact that the person is angry as the problem and so on. Point being they blame anger and think that to shut it down, you have to suppress it, lest you humiliate yourself at worse or get in trouble at best.

Then there are people who believe that only positive emotions should be allowed and negative emotions should be snuffed out. That we should smile all the time even if we don't feel like it. An episode of the Simpsons called "Moaning Lisa" put that into play and as a result Lisa got taken advantage of by her fellow students and teachers. The whole thing started because Lisa was suffering from depression or sadness as she put it and Marge tried to help her by giving her the advice of smiling all the time. When she saw what Lisa was going through, she changed her mind and allowed her to go see her Jazz Idol Bleeding Gums Murphy, which elicited a genuine smile from Lisa, because Marge finally understood her.

Now what's my view on emotions? Well to do that, I'm gonna list the basic ones. I know there's more than them, but I'm listing 8 of them.

Happiness

On the surface, happiness should be a no-brainer. As it's a positive emotion we all strive to achieve. However when you get right down to it, the struggle to be happy is not worth the effort unless you're aboslutely sure you will be happy. The fact that my neighbours below the border have a constitutional right to pursue happiness shows, how much of a struggle that could be. As someone who's been happy before, it's a good feeling and an addictive feeling, but the more one tries to force it on me, the less happy I be. Kind of a mindfuck am I right?

Sadness

I've known sadness most of my life. Like most of you, faced many tragedies. However that being said, despite that, I wouldn't trade away this emotion no matter how much it hurts and I'll tell you why. Sadness is by all definition, the feeling when your heart breaks. And while that is a terrible feeling, it does prove one thing positive. That you at least have a heart to break. Better to have a broken heart than no heart at all.

Fear

Many people think fear is the mind killer and they are right. However, that being said, being completely fearless isn't the way to go either. Fear tells you where the edge is, it helps you be more cautious with your life. Without it, you die faster than it takes for it to kill your mind. The trick isn't to eliminate fear, it's to face it on your terms and not be consumed by it.

Disgust

While many people can do without this emotion, as reacting to things in disgust is just as bad as whatever disgusting thing people witness. Reactions could range from verbal call outs ("WHAT THE FUCK!!") physical reactions (Puking) and invoking another emotion (Angry enough to hurt someone.). However without this emotion, a lot of people would be getting away with a lot of depraved acts in human history a lot faster. Much like fear and sadness, we need our disgust to prove that we are human.

Anger

Many, many people think that this is the emotion that destroys us the most. When in fact it's not. It's how we deal with said anger that could make or break us. Laws have been put in place so that we can't use our anger to hurt people. Fair enough. However not everyone can simply not get angry. There are many people of varying disorders, myself included, that have little to no outlet for our anger. The way I handle mine is I tell it like I see it. Something pisses me off, I express it. Someone pisses me off, I let them know. Whether they respond or not is their business, but it feels a lot good after letting that shit out. If I feel I need to hit something....well I'll wait until I get a punching bag. However there are so many ways to channel that anger. Participate in sports, write an angry letter to a television studio/celeb (so long as it's not threatening), buy a heavy bag or in Mr. Rogers' case pound some clay:

Now you're probably wondering why I'm paying more attention to this than the other emotions. I am sick and tired of people telling me not to be mad, that anger isn't ok. Anger gives us strength, determination and the will to get things done when the odds are against us. It's a healthy emotion and I honestly think those trying to suppress it are trying to get people killed. You keep Anger or any emotion for that matter suppressed without any outlet to take it out on and you may as well say bye bye to your health. True Anger Management, isn't about not being angry anymore, but to channel your anger into more constructive pieces. Music being one of my vents.

Surprise

Now this one is a no-brainer. Surprise regardless if it's in the negative or positive is one of the best emotions to have. Mainly because despite what we say otherwise, human beings love surprises. They love learning something new at sudden because it makes them feel special to have learned it.

Love

Love is one of the strongest emotions there is. One that many people have either misinterpreted or tried to stamp out. However while love is a good thing, how one feels love varies. There are some people who think that if they love someone, they're entitled to them. If it's platonic, that means they want to force a friendship. If it's romantic/sexual...well you get the idea. Yet they fail to realize that if they want to find any sort of love, it has to be mutual. The person has to love you back or it doesn't work. There have been so many times people made this mistake and it's a mistake I don't plan to make.

Hate

Much like Love, Hate is a very strong emotion. And like love, the word has been abused to the point where people can't tell the difference between hates. For example, a guy could say they hate the weather, but some idiot who associates the word "Hate" with "Bigotry" would call him racist against clouds. Sounds stupid, but it does happen. But also like love, Hate has to be mutual for it to work. You could hate The President of The Unitied States all you want regardless of who they are, but if they don't hate you, even if you tell them in person, then your hate is meaningless. Which in turn makes you meaningless if all you ever do is hate.

Overall, you must learn to come to terms with all your emotions, if you want to be able to control them. Otherwise, they control you. Always.