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How does your mind react to Sadness?

Sadness is a sense of loss of something or someone or empathy for another’s loss. 

Sadness, an instinctive, universal emotion manifests itself in your mind through a lack of concentration, empathetic thoughts for others, feelings of grief. It can be triggered by real or imaginary events, like a film or sad music.  Sadness at loss can take many forms, the end of a relationship, the death of a loved one, the end of an era, empathy for another’s loss. 

In society today, there is pressure to avoid sadness, a focus on always being happy. Yet, sadness is an instinctive and natural emotion, which everyone feels at some point and affects your mind in the following ways.  

Sadness is not depression 

Sadness is not depression. Everyday frustrations, loss of a loved one, life balance, financial difficulties can cause you to have worrying thoughts and to feel sad. When you feel extended periods of sadness, for weeks on end, with no particular stressors from your life, it is best to consult a doctor. 

Sadness is universal yet each mind reacts differently 

Sadness is human and a universal instinctive emotion but dependent on your physiological make-up, character and unique belief systems in your soul and mind, you react differently. Some react to sadness by avoiding thinking about it or others tend to have more sad thoughts. Some feel anger prior to sadness, depending on the situation. Again, it is important to seek help if your thoughts are sad for long periods of time without reason. 

Sad songs, sad stories and your mind feels sad 

Sadness is not always triggered by an event in our life. The instinctive emotion can arise within you simply by listening to a sad song, or watching a sad film triggering thoughts of sadness in your mind. It can be a cathartic experience. 

Tears trigger empathetic and possibly sad thoughts in your mind

When you see someone else cry, it often triggers your mind to think empathetic thoughts and you seek to comfort them. Emotions are contagious. Seeing someone sad can also make you think about sad things. 

Sadness effects the concentration in your mind 

Like many negative emotions, such as anger, sadness can dominate your thoughts. As you find yourself in emotional turmoil, your mind can find it difficult to concentrate on other thoughts. 

Sadness causes tiredness 

Loss, instigating sadness is often accompanied by worrying thoughts and sleepless nights. After time, once the grief of sadness is accepted, your mind is tired. 

In the sadness of grieving, your mind can go through five stages

According to Wikepedia,  the five stages of grief was introduced by Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book On Death and Dying. These include denial, then frustration and anger, then bargaining, then depression and finally acceptance. Other psychiatrists had worked on similar models in the 1940s. Kübler-Ross originally saw these stages as a linear reflection of how people cope with illness and dying. She later noted that the stages are not a predictable linear progression. Out of this thinking, grief experts have emerged who offer counsel and support on how to grieve. As emotional intelligence has progressed in the last two decades, sadness and grieving are not only seen to be a consequence of death or illness, but of a wider range of loss, e.g the loss of a relationship. 

Instinctive emotions are like the weather, beyond your conscious control. For a balanced life, the first step is to understand human instinctive emotions, how they work and practical steps to take in order to avoid situations that are destructive to emotional wellbeing. Not every instinctive emotion that is acted on has positive consequences. Sometimes, it may be best to take shelter from the storm. Sadness is one of the negative emotions. It is human and yet in society, it is often ignored and very difficult to express to others. Pretending that sadness doesn’t exist or ignoring others with sadness is ignoring your humanity. Once sadness is acknowledged and processed, it is easier to move on in life’s journey accepting that sadness, like a rainstorm or other instinctive emotions with help is a more realistic approach to emotional well-being. Joy might not be far behind. 

Sadness is a sense of loss of something or someone or empathy for others loss.

Sadness is an instinctive emotion triggered by loss of someone, something, even the end of an era or empathy for another’s loss. Your body can shed tears and your soul be is as dark as night. 

For more information about Sadness you might be interested in these other articles:

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