Emotional Maturity

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Emotions and Moods are “contagious!” It is imperative that one’s emotional skills are included in our effort at self-protection. Not just the most serious of situations but in all situations that trigger emotions and moods, especially those negative emotions. With that being said…

Another skill to speak to that seems to take a back seat to other more fun things in karate for self-protection is, “Emotional Maturity!” Emotions are the cornerstone of everything that happens to our species in every facet of life. Emotions are ‘honest’ and they speak to another perspective of emotion, that being “mood.” When people seem anxious, tense, angry or afraid, it is likely that something has occurred or is present that is making the person fell and act in certain ways. 

Emotions/moods are honest because they are driven by “autonomic and subconscious processes” in the brain. The part of our brain responsible for our emotions and those of other people is the amygdala. The amygdala is part of our limbic system. It is also that part that detects potential threats and dangers and then triggers the adrenal system that prepares our bodies for freeze, fight or flight, i.e., triggers the physiological responses to support our actions. 

Because emotions and moods are first experienced unconsciously we all will first “feel” that something is amiss or happening before we become consciously aware. This is where our heuristic intuition skills come into play. Those HI skills must be trained and practiced to attune us to our emotional responses that are triggered, think gut feelings, that trigger the chemical/adrenal dumps resulting in greater speed at which one cognitively understand that something hinky is going on. 

This is why we must understand our nature, human nature, so when we feel emotional and mood altering effects often from the behaviors of others we must listen, become aware and then process it properly to act or not to act. 

Emotions and Moods are “contagious!” This warrants repeating: Emotions and Moods are “contagious!” They pass from person to person subconsciously through mimicry and other means. It is nature’s group survival dynamic and we must be aware of it and understand it and its effects. When involving ‘negative emotions in particular’ we need to accept that the passing of negative emotions is more influential because of the group survival dynamic. One person with a negative emotion (anger, anxiety, fear, etc.) can infect a much larger group. People mimic others in their immediate vicinity: others will copy that behavior by experiencing that persons emotions and moods. 

Negative Moods and Emotions:

• fear; 
• anger; 
• hostility; 
• contempt; 
• anxiety; 
• sadness. 

Training and practicing and applying skills in regard to the group survival dynamic is when we develop skills through training that  are part of and participating in a situation comprised of two or more people, we will reason first from “feel,” then confirm our assessment based on observable, appropriate and justified indicators to achieve understanding followed by legal, appropriate and justifiable actions/behaviors. This is a process of achieving emotional maturity whereby we understand the how, why and what-for of emotions and moods so that we can resist the group survival dynamic from emotions and moods so that we may act in a way that deescalates a group dynamic from its more negative aspects. 

Collective Mood/Emotions:

The concepts are a concrete reality. Believe it. A combination of individual moods and emotions in any environment and situation  creates this collective mood-n-emotions. When people feel fear, anger and aggression, it is likely something has occurred or is present that is making them feel this way and to act the way they do. 

Emotions and moods are driven by our limbic system, our brains. This occurs out of sight, sound and touch of our consciousness. The amygdala is responsible, also for the detection of threats and also for preparing the body’s psychological and physical response. 

This why we get that gut feeling, the one we should ALWAYS  listen to. Being tuned in to your own emotional responses, emotional maturity, increases the speed at which you cognitively understand what is going on leading to properly trained and practiced and experienced responses - faster. One of the many ways we learn to bypass the OODA loops processes. 

When we feel emotions from others with emotional maturity we can detect and perceive how that effects us so when our cognizance realizes this, fast, we are still at a point we can control it so we don’t become infected leading to incorrect decisions and actions. 

It seems that the negative emotions effect us with greater force and power than our normal friendly loving emotions so we must become aware of and understand when those negative emotions and moods begin to influence us. 

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