I'm Too Emotional.

[spicy_pickles]

This is embarrassing to post but I'm going to do it anyways. 

I am easily emotional. I will get teary-eyed or feel depressed/upset over the smallest things. Odd things too. For example, I'll see a sappy card and it will remind me of my hometown or something and I'll get emotional. I'll see a beautiful bouquet of flowers and get emotional. 

I don't understand why. 

[philosogi]

@spicy_pickles It's a difficult process to get to know why you're emotional. Your ego is likely blocking you from finding out why. Outsmart your ego! Stop judging yourself! Leo has tons of material on this stuff. Search for his videos on stopping judging, and keep clicking on titles that are relevant to what you perceive is your problem.

I think you're judging yourself for being "too emotional." 

Try asking yourself "why" about simple things. Here's an example. It's hypothetical and kind of my experience:

"Why did I get emotional about that sappy card?"
"It reminded me of my hometown"
"what emotion did I have?"
"Nostalgia/sadness"
"Why do I feel nostalgia/sadness about my hometown?"
"I miss the feeling of the community"
"Why do I miss that feeling?"
"I don't have it now" - here I'd probably feel a deep sense of pain and emotion; I'd take some time and allow it to wash over me without judging.
"Why don't I have it now?"
"I haven't taken the time to build it"
"Why haven't I taken the time to build it?"
"I didn't know I missed it"

Other people cannot give you answers that are totally accurate because these answers are personal obvs. Delve into your past. If you are ready, dig deeper. Don't be afraid. Allow yourself time for just yourself where you don't judge yourself. Write down your ideas if that helps you think (I know it helps me think as it keeps me from being evasive and vague with myself).

[spicy_pickles]

Thanks.

i did a little soul searching last night and this morning. Everything you mentioned above ties together so nicely with what I'm feeling. Why am I getting emotional? Because things remind me of my hometown and I'm nostalgic. I miss who I was in my hometown. My life doesn't have much happiness and joy right now. I need to fix that.

by doing so I am not looking to anyone else. I am doing it for myself. 

[Pallero]

@spicy_pickles Those things that you get upset over might seem small or odd at first glance or to other people, but they are never that. The reason that you can't understand them might be that emotions and trauma run very very deep, and some of those things you have already forgotten. Then suddenly you come across something that inexplicably upsets you - it's cause it triggers something unresolved in your past, something that you haven't given enough attention to.

You're not too emotional. You're as emotional as you should be and there's nothing to be embarrassed about.

[FindingPeace]

17 hours ago, spicy_pickles said:

Because things remind me of my hometown and I'm nostalgic.

The fundamental mechanism behind this is attachment. You are so strongly attached and identified with things from your past that anything that triggers a memory of it also triggers an emotion.

Nostalgia is an interesting emotion. I see it like this: when I look at an object from my past and it prokoves an emotion I find that the emotion is usually one of pleasure (from remembering the time) followed by sadness. The sadness comes from the fact that we are comparing the past moment to the present moment and evaluating the past as being happier or better in some way to the present. That is effectivey what nostalgia is - feeling attached to a time that we value more than the present moment.

And this can be because the present circumstances of our live's just isn't as 'good' or happy as the past. So the issue here is that something is amis right now. Life isn't fulfilling. Because if it was, then we wouldn't be so attached to the past. There would be that emotional reaction.

So are you feeling emotion because you feel that your life now isn't as fullfilling as it once was?

[Capethaz]

@spicy_pickles What's wrong with that? Emotion it's what moves you.