Quote:
"Emotions are complex, largely automated programs of actions concocted by evolution. The actions are complemented by a cognitive program that includes certain ideas and modes of cognition, but the world of emotions is largely one of actions carried out in our bodies, from the facial expressions and postures to changes in viscera and internal milieu.
"Feelings of emotion, on the other hand, are composite perceptions of what happens in our body and mind when we are emoting. As far as the body is concerned, feelings are images of actions rather than actions themselves; the world of feelings is one of perceptions executed in brain maps.
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So is the distinction that emotions are actions, whereas feelings are thoughts? So I can feel anger but I am not having the emotion of anger unless I express the anger, for example, by yelling at someone? I think I have progressed a lot in therapy at being able to detect my feelings, but I still am not always good at expressing them, which would be the "emotion" part of it, I guess. So I may have feelings, but not emotions? (at least in some cases). In other cases I can do both the feeling and the emotion. Like, I may feel sad and I may express that by crying, which is the emotion.
If that is the distinction, I think my T is really good at detecting feelings, without having me express them as emotions. Sometimes his recognition of my feelings without my having to tell him I am having that feeling, helps me be able to express the emotion to him.