February 2025, Forest Finds: Feelings and Emotions
Feelings and Emotions
What are emotions? asks the philosopher.That question was asked in precisely that form over 100 years ago by William James in his essay for Mind and its Fringes who did much to define and shape the discipline of psychology, emotions and its relationship to religion.
One of the most enduring western metaphors from Socrates and Plato is that emotions are always lurking in the background as we pursue reason. As painful as this idea is to the full embrace of the human spirit, this idea that reason is the master and emotions are the slave has continued to be a pervasive Chaplains are the first responders when the feelings alarm rings.
We are the professionals who show up for the caresseekers 911 call. “Help me I am confused and distraught? “Sit with me, I can not stop weeping for my husband” “What should I do? I am not used to feeling so much.” We chaplains listen skillfully and deeply to these emotions and as a care responder we are not afraid to walk or run into the flames of these emotions, not with a water hose or a hatchet but with tools, discipline and the focus of our disciplined interventions and strategies that our discipline provides. In and of themselves feelings and emotions are neither good nor bad, not right or wrong. Many of us in chaplaincy think of emotions as value neutral.
Emotions provide information for chaplains and careseekers that must be acknowledged and welcome as we traverse the liminal space of care. In this month’s Forest Finds we will explore different constructs about emotions and feelings that may inform your psycho/social /spiritual practice.
Biology, Bodies, and Temperament
Have your first impressions of a care recipient ever directed you to emotions and feelings that surprise you? Our training guides our rational mind not to judge, presume or assume, but our bodies often do the opposite.
Learning about Feelings from Random Objects
An object-based prompt for use with your care-seekers
Unique Emotions Emerge in the Wilderness
Many care-seekers describe being in nature as fostering feelings of peace and ease. Explore the interdependence of emotions and the natural world.
Constructs for Engaging Emotions
Multiple disciplines can guide emotional dimensions of the human spirit. The theoretical constructs here create new vantage points well beyond a Feeling Wheel.
Empathy: An Ability or an Inclination?
There are debates about the down side of the empathic impulse and its use as a tool of healing.
Chaplaincy Strategies: Feelings or Emotions
How do we distinguish chaplaincy interventions from psychological ones? After all, we're chaplains, not therapists...
Arts-based Feeling and Healing
By offering opportunities to engage in the arts and creative expression, care-seekers can be enabled to mourn, grieve, celebrate life, and find endurance, healing, and meaning.
The Connectivity of Emotions and Spiritual Expressions
There is an experience of joy, sorrow, regret, fear, and so on that is specifically spiritual.