{"id":192,"date":"2026-06-13T04:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T04:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metisarchive.com\/?p=192"},"modified":"2026-06-18T00:40:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T00:40:59","slug":"developing-an-indominable-mind-tracing-emotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metisarchive.com\/?p=192","title":{"rendered":"Developing an Indominable Mind: Tracing Emotions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To develop an indominable mind, we must begin by better understanding ourselves. It is well established that our minds operates on an active level (consciousness)<\/em> and a passive level<\/em> (automatic). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The passive operations are of special interest to us because they are often so automated, that we are not even aware of the impact they have on our behavior<\/strong>. As such, they can actually get in the way of what we want, and how we wish to behave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step in mental martial arts is uncovering our passive operations and understanding how they work<\/em>. Only then will be be able to reorient them to be helpful to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Automatic Emotion<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The first “automated” response we will discuss is emotion. Emotional states occur without our active activation (but they are indirectly affected by our conscious interpretations, as we will discuss later).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a evolutionary perspective, emotion is thought have developed to alter our mental state to maximize our survival instincts. For example, Anger and Fear trigger when we perceive a threat, and prepare us to act: either to get away from danger, or to destroy it. There’s been a wealth of research suggesting that angry\/scared people become less patient and more inclined to act rather than think deeply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, this altered state would help a threatened creature survive under physical threat, but then Why do we experience anger and fear when our life or physical body is not at risk?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact is, our minds are not good at distinguishing between physical and metaphorical threats. When they interpret a situation as “at risk of losing something” they trigger the fight or flight response. In the course of social interaction, the threatened thing is typically not life or health, but rather psychological needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Connections between Needs and Emotions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Anger and Fear are triggered when we are physically in danger, and also metaphysically in danger: specifically if one of our needs is threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The field of psychotherapy began in the 19th century looking to better understand the human mind. Over time, psychotherapists started to recognize patterns in their patients. These patterns described a inherent desire or need<\/strong> for a certain belief to be true. These “needs” were generally varied: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– the need to give and receive love,
– the need to belong and feel significant,
– the need to feel secure,
– the need to explore and learn,
– the need to create,
– the need for relationships,
– and the need to find purpose and meaning in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This later went on to inspire Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid. While Maslow’s model as a whole is fairly controversial, the idea of attainment\/denial of needs affecting people has accumulated a good deal of empirical evidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


Specifically, later empirical research on theories (i.e. Self-Determination Theory) supports the idea that failure to achieve certain needs is heavily associated with depression. The theory identifies three major categories of needs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Autonomy<\/strong>: the feeling you\u2019re choosing your behavior versus feeling controlled or compelled by others<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Competence<\/strong>: the feeling that you can be effective in the activity<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Relatedness<\/strong>: a feeling of connectedness and belonging with others<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    This suggests that when people feel that their autonomy, competence, or relatedness is threatened, they often become fearful or angry.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As a demonstration, imagine yourself in each of these scenarios:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. You find out that the job you worked so hard to get on your own was actually worked out by your parents. They planned to simply let you feel like you got the job. How does that make you feel?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. You’re cooking the perfect reverse-seared steak for the fiftieth time. Meanwhile your roommate hovers over you and comments that “you’re not supposed to do it that way.”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Your friends don’t invite you to a hangout that your other friends are invited to.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Did you feel frustrated or angry? In each of those three example, one of the needs we have was threatened, and perhaps you felt yourself getting angry even though there was no physical threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Satisfaction and Loss of Needs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      While we have been using Anger and Fear as our examples, this connection between emotions and needs applies to the other emotions as well: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      1. If a need or want is or may be satisfied<\/strong>, you experience the various positive emotions such as joy, excitement, or satisfaction<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. If a threat is present<\/strong>, you experience anger (ranging from irritation to rage) or fear (ranging from apprehension to panic)<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. If you encounter a loss<\/strong>, you experience sadness, grief, or depression,<\/em> depending on the nature of the loss.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Of course, this is not the only situations when we would experience emotions, but it is a fairly reliable predictor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        What does this mean?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

        What this means is “Emotions are a signal.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Just as pain is a signal that tells us our physical body may be at risk of injury or damage, emotions can be interpreted as our mind telling us that our needs are being met, threatened, or lost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        This is especially important because people operate on needs that are individualized to them. While Self-Determination Theory highlights the major categories, there are needs that fall outside that system, or are specific realizations of the major categories. Every person will have adopted\/developed their individual needs without being aware of it.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        This lack of awareness leads to a sad situation where people become angry and scared without really knowing why. Instead, they operate on the primal physical instinct: Looking around for something physical to attack–yelling abuse, breaking furniture, slamming or punching walls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The worst part about this is that it does not alleviate the threat: The furniture wasn’t threatening your needs, it was just a target for your instincts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Tracing our Emotions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        The first, and most critical step, in developing an indominable mind is to explicitly unearth these implicit beliefs\/thoughts\/needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        We can do this by tracing our emotions. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        When we feel anger, we recognize “I’m feeling angry. This means that something about this situation (or how I am thinking about this situation) is threatening a need of mine.” From there, we consider possibilities until something seems right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        If you continue to work at this process, you’ll come to know yourself at a deeper level. You’ll recognize the “triggers” that cause sadness, happiness, anger, and fear. You’ll also be able to process and understand your emotions in a more effective way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        From there, we will look to understand how our conscious thoughts can contribute to our emotional responses, and work to make them align with what we actually want.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        To develop an indominable mind, we must begin by better understanding ourselves. It is well established that our minds operates on an active level (consciousness) and a passive level (automatic). The passive operations are of special interest to us because they are often so automated, that we are not even aware of the impact they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10,11],"tags":[26,6],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-mentalarts","category-learning","tag-indominableself","tag-mentalarts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metisarchive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metisarchive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metisarchive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metisarchive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metisarchive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/metisarchive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195,"href":"https:\/\/metisarchive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions\/195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metisarchive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metisarchive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metisarchive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}