# What are Your Favorite & Least Favorite Emotions?



## o0india0o (Mar 17, 2015)

@Starflakes asked this wonderful & intriguing question over in the Type 4 area, and I thought it would be interesting to open it up to the main PerC Enneagram forum. :smile-new:

So, have at it*!*

*What is your favorite emotion(s)? What is your least favorite?*

As always, I will start us off*!*


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## o0india0o (Mar 17, 2015)

*Favorite Emotion(s):* (it's hard to pick just one) happiness, excitement, joy, love, general intense emotion (of any variety or flavor), and feeling _intensely_ *alive**!*

*Least Favorite Emotion*: _at the risk of sounding cliche_)) it has to be *pain* and *feeling trapped* in bad emotions (or a bad life situation);; entrapment in general.


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## d e c a d e n t (Apr 21, 2013)

*Favorite Emotion:* Feeling inspired, intoxication, friendship

*Least Favorite:* Uhm (hard to pick)... Boredom, hopelessness, intense embarrassment/humiliation, that feeling when I realize that I'm going to die

Lol, I'm struggling to describe some emotions I like. I mean, I like to feel... happy, but that is so vague. And I enjoy like, having someone to talk with about things I find interesting etc, and I'm not sure how to describe that emotion, but "friendship" is closest for the experience I have in mind I guess.


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## Mick Travis (Aug 18, 2016)

love & hate


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## Coburn (Sep 3, 2010)

*Favorite: *nostalgia, bittersweet, that feeling when you have when you realize how small you are in comparison to the universe.

I tap into nostalgia very easily, as there are many things in life I have cherished. Bittersweet and finite existence sort of tie together. On one hand, it means the choices I make and the life I live are only a small speck of the universe and everything that has, is, and will go on in it. But at the same time, that feeling is freeing. It tells me there is no need to be concerned about tomorrow or the problems I face because they can all ultimately be overcome. They are just as small and insignificant. It really helps me not take things too seriously.

*Least favorite: *regret, feeling vulnerable.

Mostly when I realized I've done something I'm intelligent enough not to do. I hate regret. It has its place and is important in its own way, but doesn't mean I have to like it.


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## Dangerose (Sep 30, 2014)

Favourite emotions:

Joy, of course  But what I think of is specifically something like - preparing to go to a party or the theater, and feeling like everything is perfect, just a feeling like there's going to be magic and you're the princess and maybe you'll meet the prince, and just excitement and feeling like anything could happen.

Or I remember getting home from The Nutcracker as a child and that was always like a tradition to me, since it felt so magical to me, and I'd enshrine my whole room in the magic of the night, dance around on my own...it's a similar thing

Something like the mood of this:






with the details of this:






Also, nostalgia, pure old 'those were the days my friend' nostalgia. That's a good one

Others too, I like most emotions, but these stand out to me

Least favourite:

Shame. Just looking at my life and feeling like a sore thumb, realizing what kind of view other people probably have of you, feeling that people are sorry for you or annoyed by you, that you're...emotionally naked I guess in the eyes of most.

Feeling abandoned? Like a very specific:


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## d e c a d e n t (Apr 21, 2013)

I do also like wistfulness and nostalgia, usually like it a lot, but lately nostalgia has been making me more frustrated and anxious. Don't know how to explain it well, but it's like a matter of life or death, need to find something new.


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## Stellafera (Jan 19, 2015)

*Favorite:* Pride, anticipation, that feeling when I feel like I'm advancing in my life and THE FUTURE is unfolding before me, feeling appreciated, feeling well-liked, feeling witty. I love catharsis as well; that "damn, let me sit on the couch for a while" feeling when you've seen some sort of fiction that was just really emotionally fulfilling or powerful. 






*Least Favorite:* Regret. I'm not a guilt machine, I'm a guilt _factory_. Also powerlessness.

I find it interesting that the regret/guilt/shame cluster seems to be winning for everyone's overall least favorite emotion.


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## Shadow Tag (Jan 11, 2014)

Best: The pure bliss and happiness I'll feel if Kendrick drops an album tonight.

Worst: The crushing weight of my sadness if Kendrick doesn't drop an album tonight.


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## Angelo (Aug 17, 2016)

*Favorite: *_Love
Trusting somebody 100%

_*Least Favorite: *_Betrayal
Having that trust destroyed._


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## Dangerose (Sep 30, 2014)

@Angelo This + your signature quote creates an amusingly stereotypical 6 image))
(not saying you're a 6 just amused)


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## Angelo (Aug 17, 2016)

The Night's Queen said:


> @Angelo This + your signature quote creates an amusingly stereotypical 6 image))
> (not saying you're a 6 just amused)


oh, i didn't notice that :laughing:


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## Scarlet Eyes (May 15, 2015)

*Favorites:* Exhilaration, anticipation, contentment, surprise (the good kind, of course), love, feeling like everything's going as planned. 

(And I didn't list happiness because all those feelings directly result to that.)

*Least Favorites:* Revulsion, vulnerability, resentment, dejection, boredom, numbness.


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## Syvelocin (Apr 4, 2014)

I'm having a really hard time not being a walking stereotype with this question lol. 
Favorite: Calm, contentment, freedom, happiness, connection, love. 
Least Favorite: It's gotta be anger. I'm even angry that I'm an angry person. Ugh. Loneliness, isolation, anxiety. I get this feeling in my gut when I'm anxious that I can only describe as just... icky. I self-medicate to get rid of it. Stress. 



The Night's Queen said:


> Feeling abandoned? Like a very specific:


Sorry, off topic, but I love that song.


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## o0india0o (Mar 17, 2015)

Syvelocin said:


> I'm having a really hard time not being a walking stereotype with this question lol.


Ha ha*!* I know the feeling*!* :laughing:

My answers were similarly stereotypical for a Type 7. Albeit, boredom didn't make my list, and it is not the worst thing I've ever experienced (it's not preferable, but I do understand that great creations, creativity, and epiphanies can burst forth from the boredom ashes;; thus, i tolerate the feeling). Kind of like how people describe childbirth contractions, "pain with a purpose";; the fact that I know there is a purpose behind it, makes me more tolerant of it. : )


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## o0india0o (Mar 17, 2015)

It's interesting to me that several people mentioned "nostalgia" as a *positive* feeling. I tend to find nostalgia painful and unpleasant.

Like, it feels nice to remember something good, and something you have fond memories about. But also, a memory is just that: an experience trapped in the past. I can never get that thing back. I can never recreate it. I will never experience it again. That makes me really sad (most of the time).

Nostalgia also reminds me of the passing of time, which in turn reminds me of my own mortality (& that my time on this planet for myself and those I love is finite). That is a terribly depressing (& panic inducing) thought for me. Anything that reminds me of the passing of time and death, is in the "poo poo" category for me. Ha.

Nostalgia feels good on the surface, but it feels like a Siren's call (from Greek mythology);; I have learned to not answer the call, because once you get past the pleasurable exterior, I find pain underneath it.


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## Rose for a Heart (Nov 14, 2011)

Copy pasting my response from the 4 thread~

My favorite feeling (I'm going to focus on that, instead of emotion, as I feel like it says more) is when I reveal myself or make myself feel vulnerable and I receive love in return. I don't know, it's very rarely that I feel that way. Of course this is intertwined with pain and apprehension as well. So, one of my favorite feelings is intimacy. 

My least favorite is sadness. It can often be accompanied by anxiety. It breaks me, steals everything from me, leaves me feeling hopeless and not wanting to do anything. Basically takes away my passion. Yeah...I don't like it.


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## d e c a d e n t (Apr 21, 2013)

@o0india0o
Well, nostalgia is rather bittersweet, but it can be nice because there's something beautiful to it. And my experience of things usually feel more dry or "detached" in a way, while a dose of nostalgia makes it more... magical.

This song comes to mind:





_Far away, long ago
Glowing dim as an ember
Things my heart
Used to know
Things it yearns to remember...

_Idk how to explain it well, but I also feel it's _because_ of how something has been lost, and I don't want to let go. It's like all I got.

Although yes, lately I've been feeling a bit like you're saying, that it's instead a reminder of death. So now I'm trying to find other ways of appreciating life more.


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## Vive (Nov 11, 2013)

*Favorites:*

_Vulnerability_ - Even though this is not exactly a pleasant feeling to have, I do find it empowering somehow. I Believe there is some strength in admitting that I'm afraid of something and that there's strength in telling something to someone you find very difficult to share, since it makes you feel so vulnerable. There's something paradoxical about being vulnerable; I give other's more to hurt me with, yet by sharing my vulnerabilities it feels like I've made my fears lose a bit of power over me. Even when people are asshole's about it afterwards, it can still make me feel like I've grown a bit every time I dare to get vulnerable. Of course, one can also go too far with vulnerability, but that's not what I'm talking about here.

_Pride_ - You know, I don't really think I have a very strong sense of pride. Sure, I can be arrogant, it doesn't mean I'm necissarily proud of what I'm doing when I'm being arrogant. Pride is just something that I don't think I feel very often and when I do feel proud it's often often not long-lasting. So, in the end, I will do my best to savior every moment of it.

*My least favorite feeling:*

_Rejection_ - of all the feelings this is the one I have the most trouble dealing with. It's often a precursor to a roller-coaster ride of many different shades of unpleasant feelings. It almost always leads me to feel like I'm lacking in some quality and need to improve upon myself. Even though at many points rejection is not truly directed at me on a personal level - hell, sometimes people just aren't interested or not a good fit at all, but I have such a hard time getting myself of the self-blaming ride that it just makes me a little bit miserable every time I do get rejected. I do have to say though that this happens only when I'm being rejected by people or on basis of issues that are very significant to me. Everyone would probably get upset, but I think I'm pretty decent at letting the feeling spin a little out of control.


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## Stellafera (Jan 19, 2015)

o0india0o said:


> It's interesting to me that several people mentioned "nostalgia" as a *positive* feeling. I tend to find nostalgia painful and unpleasant.


Same, nostalgia just makes me think "things aren't like that anymore, now I'm sad". 



Vive said:


> *My least favorite feeling:*
> 
> _Rejection_ - of all the feelings this is the one I have the most trouble dealing with. It's often a precursor to a roller-coaster ride of many different shades of unpleasant feelings. It almost always leads me to feel like I'm lacking in some quality and need to improve upon myself. Even though at many points rejection is not truly directed at me on a personal level - hell, sometimes people just aren't interested or not a good fit at all, but I have such a hard time getting myself of the self-blaming ride that it just makes me a little bit miserable every time I do get rejected. I do have to say though that this happens only when I'm being rejected by people or on basis of issues that are very significant to me. Everyone would probably get upset, but I think I'm pretty decent at letting the feeling spin a little out of control.


Oh, yes, that's another good one, rejection is miserable. It's like all of your internal doubts start confirming themselves and grabbing control of the wheel. 

On the other hand, the feeling of "haha I DON'T CARE" when you're rejected but you _know_ you're the one in the right is kind of fun.


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