Introduction to Emotional U

This essay is part of a series & also your invitation to audit my self-imposed, self-taught class in which I aim to define & understand our human emotions through my memories & personal experiences.

Today I begin an exploration of the vast array of our human emotions through a series of essays I’ll call Emotional U, a play on words (and letters), if you will, with the intention of furthering my own education along the way.

To be honest, I’m mainly interested in learning more about myself — and perhaps, if you follow along, you’ll learn something about yourself too — but I do also hope to graduate to a better understanding of all of us.

I believe that, while each of us possesses the same emotions within us, how we engage with them and express them can vary significantly; then again, maybe not so much…As my very wise father used to say, “I dunno, ya know?” There is a lot I don’t know, and I hope to emerge from this exercise, or this “school of thought,” not necessarily with a Degree — but with a degree of heightened clarity.

To begin, I compiled an initial list of 10 human emotions. OK… for full disclosure, I enlisted the help of AI for this part. Inspired by Brene Brown’s comprehensive list of 87 from her book, Atlas of the Heart (https://brenebrown.com/resources/atlas-of-the-heart-list-of-emotions/), I asked ChatGPT to select the first 10 on my behalf.

I commit here, in honor of the Emotional U pledge of honesty and integrity, to never (ever, ever) use ChatGPT to write for me. My voice is an expression of my soul, and you have my word that my word is my word. However, in the interest of efficiency, I do find AI to be a brilliant tool, one I used to create my little logo at the top of this page, for example. I may also rely on ChatGPT to check something like the accuracy of a quote, or for other relevant information such as geography, a date or a historical fact that may be pertinent to my writing. I’ll use it the way I would otherwise use the Internet — as a thesaurus, at times, or a fact checker… but never in place of my creative expression, which I believe is one of my main purposes for existing.

Now I invite you to take out your notepads and pencils (or Notes apps or laptops) and join me in this self-imposed, self-taught class if you feel so inclined. Whether you decide to simply follow along or engage more deeply by completing your own personal-assessment assignments, I sincerely hope you gain something of value here… even if it’s a “note to self” to never copy off of Susie’s homework!

I don’t claim to be an authority on much of anything at this point in my life; perhaps ironically, what I’ve learned has taught me enough to know better. I was always a mediocre student at best, but in hindsight I see that it was because the topics we had to learn weren’t always in alignment with the ones I wanted to learn. This is often true even now, but I have evolved enough to understand and appreciate that there is true value held inside of those textbooks, philosophy tomes, and instruction manuals — and, most importantly, in me… and also in you, no matter who you are or where you are in your life. So why not open up and take a look?

While I fear some of my resulting essays may feel quite vulnerable to share with you, I won’t let that stop me. I intend to find a way to navigate this process as openly and honestly as I can, and to offer sincere examples of my experiences without divulging anything in my stories that isn’t mine to share, particularly where other people are involved. To that end, I may change a name or a place to protect the privacy of others.

When this assignment is complete, if I’m not too emotionally exhausted, I’ll ask ChatGPT to give me another 10. For now, and without further ado, here is the list of the first 10 emotions I will explore:

1. Awe

2. Shame

3. Contentment

4. Disappointment

5. Grief

6. Belonging

7. Jealousy

8. Relief

9. Overwhelm

10. Love

Thank you for bearing with me on (and through) my course of self-discovery, and I’ll understand if you need to avert your eyes at times as I stand naked before you. Now that I’ve shared somewhat of a syllabus, I will follow by posting assignment number one, “Awe.” If you can hardly wait, feel free to read it now on my Substack page (at least I hope you can — I’m still figuring this thing out).

I hope you’ll be kind in your comments and remember that this is not about passing or failing but only about learning. Mark Twain said it perfectly: “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

Class adjourned.