By DARCIE BORDEN
Featured Blogger
Has anyone ever accused you of being too emotional?
Well, don't be insulted. That just means you're part of the human race, and maybe it also means you're more highly evolved or would have survived better in early human history.
You know those goose bumps you get when you experience extreme emotion? The origin of goose bumps goes back to before we developed language to verbalize our emotions. We were also covered with hair back then. The goose bumps made the hairs stand up, and that showed our clan mates that we were experiencing extreme emotion. It also happened when we were the prey, and the hairs standing up from fear could make us look bigger or scarier to our predator, thus possibly ending the chase.
Have you noticed that now that we no longer have all that hair standing up from the goosebumps, we feel the need to tell people when we have goosebumps? Like, "Wow, that gave me goosebumps."
Ironic how we have the language to express our emotions now, but we still realize instinctively that the goosebumps are part of that expression and should be recognized by our modern clan mates.
I thought of this recently when my friend Lisa was over my house, and we were discussing kids and current issues involving kids. Lisa was trying to express to me how much she cares about my kids, and she said, "I have goosebumps, that's how sincere I am." Almost as if we are still somehow connected to our ancestral expression of emotion, and words just don't feel like enough.
Emotion was highly important for humans to conceptualize important issues while living in hunter-gatherer clans. As we began living in larger groups, our forebrain expanded to include even more complex emotions.
Emotions were part of our survival in those groups, and it is still part of our survival today. All 
you have to do is observe the dynamic amongst 7th grade girls, the universal age when they begin to compete for position in their tribe and fight to fit in and belong. There's a reason they are obsessed with friendships in middle school and seem to forget about their family. They have already secured a place in their families. Now they instinctively feel that they need to secure a place in the larger community, even if it is only the community (or tribe) of the middle school. Don't forget, even as recent as biblical times, girls were getting married at 13 years old. And biblical times are very recent in the history of humanity, when you figure we've been on the planet for 4 million years.
All this makes me wonder why in Victorian times, people were taught to not show emotion. Was it suddenly unbecoming? Did it seem too clan-like? Why is it bad manners to show too much emotion? And how can we possibly be expected to lose 4 million years of survival instincts that are hard-wired into our brains?
I don't know about you, but the next time someone says I'm being too sensitive or overreacting, maybe it's they who should think about why I'm being too sensitive or why I'm overreacting. Maybe the issue needs to be looked at more closely. Maybe that is how we've survived living in groups all these years. Our emotions urge people to resolve issues and live together in harmony.
Featured Blogger
Has anyone ever accused you of being too emotional?
Well, don't be insulted. That just means you're part of the human race, and maybe it also means you're more highly evolved or would have survived better in early human history.
You know those goose bumps you get when you experience extreme emotion? The origin of goose bumps goes back to before we developed language to verbalize our emotions. We were also covered with hair back then. The goose bumps made the hairs stand up, and that showed our clan mates that we were experiencing extreme emotion. It also happened when we were the prey, and the hairs standing up from fear could make us look bigger or scarier to our predator, thus possibly ending the chase.
Have you noticed that now that we no longer have all that hair standing up from the goosebumps, we feel the need to tell people when we have goosebumps? Like, "Wow, that gave me goosebumps."
Ironic how we have the language to express our emotions now, but we still realize instinctively that the goosebumps are part of that expression and should be recognized by our modern clan mates.
I thought of this recently when my friend Lisa was over my house, and we were discussing kids and current issues involving kids. Lisa was trying to express to me how much she cares about my kids, and she said, "I have goosebumps, that's how sincere I am." Almost as if we are still somehow connected to our ancestral expression of emotion, and words just don't feel like enough.
Emotion was highly important for humans to conceptualize important issues while living in hunter-gatherer clans. As we began living in larger groups, our forebrain expanded to include even more complex emotions.
Emotions were part of our survival in those groups, and it is still part of our survival today. All
All this makes me wonder why in Victorian times, people were taught to not show emotion. Was it suddenly unbecoming? Did it seem too clan-like? Why is it bad manners to show too much emotion? And how can we possibly be expected to lose 4 million years of survival instincts that are hard-wired into our brains?
I don't know about you, but the next time someone says I'm being too sensitive or overreacting, maybe it's they who should think about why I'm being too sensitive or why I'm overreacting. Maybe the issue needs to be looked at more closely. Maybe that is how we've survived living in groups all these years. Our emotions urge people to resolve issues and live together in harmony.