In recent years we have experienced the rise of currents that defend at all costs everything that is related to positivism or happiness. However, this “good-naturedness” is far from the reality of people and can even be frustrating.

The truth is that negative emotions are also important , and although they are always evident to us they can provide us with a great deal of benefit. In the following, we will talk about them and how they can help us.

The importance of these states of mind

Traditionally, society has taught us to think that negative emotions and feelings cannot bring us any benefit and that they only give us moments of sorrow, frustration, anxiety or fear, as well as a great number of tears conceived as useless.

However, negative emotions are necessary . Achieving mental balance is only possible if we experience all kinds of emotions. The moment we start to repress any feeling that we find unpleasant we fall into the error of not developing fully as a person on a psychological level.

The living of different experiences in which all kinds of emotions appear shapes us as people and helps us to grow in a complete way; this being the first and most important benefit of negative emotions.

Obviously, if we settle into these psychological states, or let them invade our minds on a daily basis, we could run the risk of developing some kind of psychological disorder. However, experienced naturally, they are essential to maintaining our mental balance.

The need for a wealth of experience

If we only experience positive emotions or experiences, if we never let some negative feelings or feelings associated with suffering surface, we could never become complete people and frustration would take hold of us .

In the same way, without negative emotions we would not attach any value to all those positive experiences or feelings and, in the same way, we would not be able to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong in our life.

Therefore, it is necessary to assimilate that we do not have the obligation to always feel happy, but that we must accept our feelings whether they are positive or negative. This can be tremendously complicated, since we are not used to facing them, either out of fear or out of comfort.

What are the benefits of negative emotions?

Although it is sometimes difficult to believe, if we manage our emotions well, experience negative feelings or live through moments of distress, it provides us with mental balance, as well as knowledge about ourselves and skills to resolve and cope more easily with future unpleasant situations .

In general, the main benefits of negative emotions are mental balance and experience. In addition, each negative emotion can provide us with a much more specific set of skills.

1. Mental or emotional balance

As mentioned above, the main benefit of experiencing negative emotions is to achieve or maintain a mental stability or balance that we will not achieve if we repress them.

Emotional balance is essential to experience inner calm, improve our self-esteem and live life to the fullest; and this obviously includes negative emotions.

Of course, every emotion has its moment and concrete opportunity to appear, and that is when we must allow ourselves to experience it. If we do not let them emerge, they will remain dormant within us and will end up appearing at the least opportune moment.

If one day we wake up on the wrong foot and feel bad tempered, or some situation occurs that makes us sad and feel like crying, we should not suppress these emotions. We have to be able to experience them and let them flow, so that they pass by and we can feel good again completely .

However, while we cannot feel guilty about the emotions we experience, the acts or behaviors we carry out that are guided by them are our responsibility. In other words, we should not hide behind them to do whatever we want.

Finally, one of the keys to achieving mental balance is forgetting what society imposes on us , living and finding our own balance between positive and negative emotions.

2. Skills and experience

As well as the experience that all types of situations provide us with, the experience of negative emotions also provides us with a series of skills and knowledge that will help us to face future complications more effectively and with less emotional intensity.

Just as we learn to relate to other people, the appearance and experience of negative emotions teach us to deal with them and to manage them correctly in the next few circumstances.

It is useless to want to experience only one type of emotion, whether positive or negative, since the rest will eventually appear before or after and their containment only deprives us of the possibility of learning from all kinds of feelings.

Advantages of some negative emotions

In the previous point it is already mentioned that there is a concrete series of emotions or feelings, traditionally described as negative, that, well managed and experienced in an effective way, can provide us with a series of really useful skills or abilities to face day-to-day situations.

1. Sadness

Sadness is a common and basic emotion. Experiencing feelings of sadness is natural since there are a myriad of factors that can turn a happy day into a sad one.

If we do not let it settle in us and remain longer than necessary, sadness is very useful in the development of problem solving .

However, we must be careful, because if we let it flow for too long it can affect our self-esteem or become a depressive condition.

2. Anger

Several studies have found indications that the feeling of anger is a motivator of analytical thinking, which helps us to think more rationally. It is necessary to specify that this refers to the emotion of anger, which should not be confused with anger , with which the opposite occurs.

A mishandled feeling of anger can turn into rage; and while anger helps us release tension, anger increases this emotional and mental strain.

3. Shame or shyness

Although, a priori, shame is not considered an essential emotion or with positive or negative tints, it is true that some people do not consider it beneficial.

However, thanks to the feelings of shyness we analyze better how we relate and interact with other people , being a little more introspective and helping us to know ourselves a little better.

4. Fear or concern

Fear is an adaptive reaction that helps us stay alert to danger . A sense of rational fear that is proportionate to the context around us can help us keep perspective on what is around us.

However, when this fear becomes disproportionate or irrational it can turn into anxiety or one of the conditions associated with it, so as with all other emotions the key is not to let them dominate us.

5. Disgust

The sensation or feeling of disgust helps us to maintain our health, both physically and emotionally , since it makes it easier for us to get away from what may be harmful or harmful to us.