emotional Archives ⋆ Mike and Susan Dawson

Does Being in Love Come from the Brain or Heart?

michaeldawsonlpc@gmail.com2024-01-08T01:12:36+00:00Emotion, Heart|

Most people don’t think about what is happening in their brains when they are in love. It’s all about the heart, right? After all, Cupid doesn’t shoot an arrow at your brain on Valentine’s Day — he points it at your heart! And everything that happens when you are in love, as your heart races and the mere sight of that special someone takes your breath away, can only be described as a giant ball of feel-good emotions. So, it’s natural that anyone with a brain would shout HEART if asked, “does being in love come from the brain or heart?” Do you really know why and how you love [...]

Marriage Setbacks You Need to Know

michaeldawsonlpc@gmail.com2024-01-08T01:14:55+00:00Blame, Connection|

My dad had his private pilot's license when I was growing up and I was always fascinated and scared to death to fly with him. He seemed unsure about different aspects of getting the plane off the ground. My kid's memory pictures him covering his checklist 5 times where more experienced pilots were good with one run through. He was a CPA, so every box needed to be checked and then double-checked. I could have viewed this as a setback but because I expected it, it was annoyingly comforting. Listening to the tower and their instructions to change headings and altitude always seemed confusing. I never really could understand what [...]

All Emotions are Appropriate, but not All Behaviors.

michaeldawsonlpc@gmail.com2024-01-08T01:17:52+00:00Emotion|

“You’re just being emotional” “You’re so emotional,you’re out of control” “People just use their emotions to get what they want” “Just be rational and think about it” Sound familiar? Years ago it was commonly accepted that our brain had a reasonable side and an emotional side; and some still believe that today. The idea was that we can control our emotions using reason. It’s the emotion vs. reason idea. Not True. We know today that the brain is integrated with emotion and reason, even in the Cerebral Cortex. Without emotion, higher-level problem solving does not happen very well. John Gottman says the “sense of the matter” is essential in problem [...]