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Emotions or feelings form a necessary part of our life. Everybody feels joy, fear, anger and
elation at different times. And everybody feels blue or worried, sometimes. Do you feel annoyed
when the alarm goes off in the morning? Perhaps you leave the house ___1___ , in anticipation
of meeting your friend on the way to school; and maybe you feel ___2___ when you don't meet
him or her after all. Or you feel overjoyed when you discover you can answer your teacher's
questions.
___3___ makes you react in two ways. One is the external reaction which people can see -
the broad smile when you meet someone you like, the frown when you become irritated, the
flushed face when you are angry, the blush or the reddening of the ears when you feel ashamed.
The other is the ___4___ reaction which only you know about
-- your heart beats faster,
your blood pressure goes up, sweat comes from your pores, your breathing becomes fast and
shallow, or your stomach turns uncomfortably, as if you had butterflies in it.
Do you know why such changes take place within you when you
___5___ an emotion? They
prepare you for action, get your body keyed up so that you can do something about the emotion you
feel. These preparations for action were once important to man's ___6___ . He was enabled to
perform superhuman feats of strength by means of the sudden burst of energy which came with
the emotions of fear and anger when he was faced with an enemy or wild beast.
The internal reactions to emotion are automatic and not easy to
___7___. But we can learn
proper ways to show our emotions outwardly.
When a child feels angry he follows the most direct course. He pounds and screams or he hits
the person who has angered him. But an adult has learned other ways to ___8___. He may use
words to take the place of a direct attack. Instead of striking a person, he may make a sarcastic
remark about him. Or better still, he may have learnt to control his anger and remain calm by
counting to ten, or by ___9___ the person who has made him angry.
A child who feels love and affection for someone runs up to him and throws his arms around
him. But an adult compliments the person, or gives a present, or uses some other indirect way to
express affection.
As a person grows up, he gives up many of the childish,
___10___ ways of showing his
emotions, and develops other ways more suitable to grown-ups. |
