Emotions we don't have names for

[Piggy]

I know this probably doesn't belong in this section of the forum, but I don't know where it does belong, so if it's misplaced, I'll let the mods decide...

What are the emotions we don't have names for in English?

I'm thinking of one I'll call autumnence.

It's a feeling I get whenever autumn sets in. It's not nostalgia -- not even the Portuguese saudade -- and not loneliness... but it's unique to the season....

I find myself remembering the past, recent years, my youth, even my boyhood. Every sight and smell sparks recollections. And I want someone to be with -- to go to the movies with... to sit by the fire with... to walk in the woods with....

It's a kind of longing. But a longing without any particular object.

So what other emotions do we experience that we have not yet crafted terms for?

[Burning Beard]

I know this probably doesn't belong in this section of the forum, but I don't know where it does belong, so if it's misplaced, I'll let the mods decide...

What are the emotions we don't have names for in English?

I'm thinking of one I'll call autumnence.

It's a feeling I get whenever autumn sets in. It's not nostalgia -- not even the Portuguese saudade -- and not loneliness... but it's unique to the season....

I find myself remembering the past, recent years, my youth, even my boyhood. Every sight and smell sparks recollections. And I want someone to be with -- to go to the movies with... to sit by the fire with... to walk in the woods with....

It's a kind of longing. But a longing without any particular object.

So what other emotions do we experience that we have not yet crafted terms for?

Wow... sounds very familiar.

Every Autumn I get that feeling... my first breakup with a girl happened right in the middle of Autumn and those feelings always resurface around that time - the smells and sounds of that time of year always lift that feeling back to the surface.

[Uncayimmy]

Anger. My mother always said, "I can't tell you how angry you make me."

[Just thinking]

I don't know if this is an emotion, per se, but to me it's a real sensation that seems to last only seconds. It can occur almost anytime, anyplace ... but it happens very rarely. It's a feeling of how I felt at some point in the distant past. It can be brought on by almost anything, a familiar smell, a familiar place, etc. And no, it's not Deja Vu, which I have experienced as well --- it's quite different. I don't even know if there's a term for this feeling, or if others have experienced it as well (given my less than great description).

Anything sound familiar, Piggy?

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

I have to say that I have never experienced that during the fall. Ever. I like the fall, I might feel the earth is dying during it, I might feel like going someplace warm and cuddly and so on but I've never had that. I think you are describing just plain nostalghia.

I have a hard time putting into words the feeling I get during a bad drinking session or a bad experience with pot. "You think very strange things that seem pretty deep but are very unpleasant and have intrusive thoughts" is the closest.

[JWideman]

That sounds like seasonal depression. :P

[Maia]

I don't know if this is an emotion, per se, but to me it's a real sensation that seems to last only seconds. It can occur almost anytime, anyplace ... but it happens very rarely. It's a feeling of how I felt at some point in the distant past. It can be brought on by almost anything, a familiar smell, a familiar place, etc. And no, it's not Deja Vu, which I have experienced as well --- it's quite different. I don't even know if there's a term for this feeling, or if others have experienced it as well (given my less than great description).




Well... um... I know exactly what this is called in a certain context, but I hope it isn't what you're talking about, that's all I can say!
For those with posttraumatic stress disorder, that's re-experiencing/flashbacks, a literal re-living of a past traumatic event. But the thing is that it doesn't have to be some kind of complete or even partial replay of the event itself. It's common to have "emotional flashbacks", which are exactly what you described. However, they're always horrifying, intrusive, and uncontrollable, so I do hope that's not what you meant.

[Just thinking]

Well... um... I know exactly what this is called in a certain context, but I hope it isn't what you're talking about, that's all I can say!
For those with posttraumatic stress disorder, that's re-experiencing/flashbacks, a literal re-living of a past traumatic event. But the thing is that it doesn't have to be some kind of complete or even partial replay of the event itself. It's common to have "emotional flashbacks", which are exactly what you described. However, they're always horrifying, intrusive, and uncontrollable, so I do hope that's not what you meant.

No, it's not like that at all. I know it's very hard to describe (at least for me), but the best way I can put it is that it gives me an overall feeling that is somewhat euphoric in nature, but it's not a sense of euphoria. (I'm sure that cleared things up, eh?) And it's by no means a flashback of any sort; it's just an overall feeling that comes over me ... and then quickly leaves. But boy does it ever give me a feeling of how I felt many years ago ... even in my youth. (I do not take drugs of any sort, nor am I on any medication when this happens --- just in case any of you are wondering.) It just seems to give me a sense of being back at some time when something pleasant or familiar was happening (even though I am fully aware of when and where I am at all times), something more than just an emotional flashback. I guess you might describe it best as a brief blast of having hyper-memory.

[madurobob]

Autumnence - the description is dead on for me, too.

So, what's that feeling I get when someone is looking over my shoulder reading my computer screen? I'm not secretive and don't care that someone, anyone, sees whats on the screen, and it doesn't necessarily anger me. But it bugs me nonetheless to have someone hovering over my shoulder like that.

[Just thinking]

Sort of like the heebie-jeebies?

(A sense of uneasiness)

[Burning Beard]

but it happens very rarely. It's a feeling of how I felt at some point in the distant past. It can be brought on by almost anything, a familiar smell, a familiar place

*puts up hand*

Some songs and smells in particular.

[PixyMisa]

I don't know if this is an emotion, per se, but to me it's a real sensation that seems to last only seconds. It can occur almost anytime, anyplace ... but it happens very rarely. It's a feeling of how I felt at some point in the distant past.
Vuja de?

[Hokulele]

Wormly.

It is the emotion you experience when you put a forkful of salad in your mouth...

...and something moves.

[athon]

So, what's that feeling I get when someone is looking over my shoulder reading my computer screen? I'm not secretive and don't care that someone, anyone, sees whats on the screen, and it doesn't necessarily anger me. But it bugs me nonetheless to have someone hovering over my shoulder like that.

I get that.

I have no secrets at all from my wife. None. I wouldn't care if she looked through anything I was writing on msn, email or simply in a writing assignment. But I absolutely hate it when she stands there as I type. She doesn't even have to be reading the screen - just standing there as I write stuff is enough to irritate me.

Athon

[StanBearclaw]

How about when you wake up on a Saturday morning to find it rainy and dreary, but instead of feeling disappointed, you're just sorta relieved because you know you're not going to miss out on anything cool (because usually on weekends you could be out rock climbing or partying on a yacht with bikini girls, but instead you're just sitting around watching college football and feeling depressed that you're not living life to the fullest).

Or maybe it's just me.

[arthwollipot]

There's that feeling you get when someone you love is doing something that makes them happy, but makes you sad. You're happy that they're happy, but you're still sad at the same time. I don't have a word for it.

Those who have followed my Soap Opera/Emo Whining posts in SWOYMRN will know what I mean.

[lister]

What about the "shock of realisation of impending doom" that they always denote on TV with a zoom in of face whilst decreasing field of view.

It starts with shock, but then has a sickly feeling that creeps down to your loins as what you've just done slowly sinks in. Sometimes accompanied by whistling in the ears if it's really bad. :D

[arthwollipot]

What about the "shock of realisation of impending doom" that they always denote on TV with a zoom in of face whilst decreasing field of view.

It starts with shock, but then has a sickly feeling that creeps down to your loins as what you've just done slowly sinks in. Sometimes accompanied by whistling in the ears if it's really bad. :DThere's a word for that. It's called the ohnosecond.

[Femke]

So, what's that feeling I get when someone is looking over my shoulder reading my computer screen? I'm not secretive and don't care that someone, anyone, sees whats on the screen, and it doesn't necessarily anger me. But it bugs me nonetheless to have someone hovering over my shoulder like that.

Proxanximity?

[Stellafane]

A friend and I were once discussing that feeling you get when you feel nostalgia for a place you've never actually been. We both agreed that such an emotion merited its own word. (I used to get that feeling for Vermont. Now I live up here, so I guess in my case it could be called "prestalgia.")

As for that autumn emotion, I know exactly what you mean. When I feel it, for some reason I always hear the Niel Diamond song "September Morn" in my head.

[whatthebutlersaw]

The sense of experiencing past shame or embarrassment very intently. Like remembering opinions you used to have at 17, or some embarrassing memory.

These memories, they jump you and make you feel exactly as embarrassed as you did at the time, or should have done at the time but was too young and stupid to do. You get an actual physical reaction - you blush, wish to hide and get a sense of intense self hatred. It usually lasts a few seconds, but it feels like a heart attack.

If anyone knows a word for that feeling, I would be grateful.

Also, is there a simple expression or single word for the vicarious shame I sometimes feel for people who don't seem too fussed themselves. Like how someone else at a completely different table stiffing the service staff makes me feel ashamed though it has nothing to do with me.

eta: is Sehnsucht the word you are looking for Piggy?

eta - again: no, it's not. Sehnsucht is particular of what you are longing for. Sorry.

[madurobob]

Proxanximity?

Works for me!

[Minarvia]

Does "optipest" work? It's when I'm feeling sort of optimistic, but not really.

[Piscivore]

I don't know if this is an emotion, per se, but to me it's a real sensation that seems to last only seconds. It can occur almost anytime, anyplace ... but it happens very rarely. It's a feeling of how I felt at some point in the distant past. It can be brought on by almost anything, a familiar smell, a familiar place, etc. And no, it's not Deja Vu, which I have experienced as well --- it's quite different. I don't even know if there's a term for this feeling, or if others have experienced it as well (given my less than great description).

Anything sound familiar, Piggy?

I think I know what you mean. Like this one time about two years ago, I was sitting at a light in an older section of town, and a particular song came on the radio, and what with the temperature and the air pressure and the ambient smells and the quality of the light coming in the windows at just that second I would have sworn to any gods present it was 1987.

[roger]

What's the word for when you find out the girl is a tranny?

[El Greco]

I have no secrets at all from my wife. None.

She's standing there again, right ?

[learner]

What's the word for when you find out the girl is a tranny?


Trangst?

[roger]

Trangst?
Exactly! :D

[learner]

Exactly! :D

Shhh... Keep it beteeen the two of us Roger. ;)

[Just thinking]

I think I know what you mean. Like this one time about two years ago, I was sitting at a light in an older section of town, and a particular song came on the radio, and what with the temperature and the air pressure and the ambient smells and the quality of the light coming in the windows at just that second I would have sworn to any gods present it was 1987.

Does that feeling seem to come and go as a Deja Vu experience? (That is, assuming you've had one of those as well.)

Also, you've hit on a point I didn't make, but is true none-the-less. It seems as though the experience requires more than just one sense; like a combination of sensory experiences, as subtle as each may be.

[Piscivore]

Does that feeling seem to come and go as a Deja Vu experience? (That is, assuming you've had one of those as well.)
Yeah, it just lasted a few seconds then was gone.

[ugot2bekidding]

Does that feeling seem to come and go as a Deja Vu experience? (That is, assuming you've had one of those as well.)



How about Vuja de?

George Carlin: Just had that... I don't know it's weird. Just had that little feeling, you ever get that funny little feeling Vuja De? No, not Deja Vu. This is Vuja De. This is the strange feeling that somehow, this has never happened before. And then it's gone..

[Piscivore]

How about Vuja de?

Hm... this post seems strangely familiar (http://forums.randi.org/showpost.php?p=5091625&postcount=12)...

[Rocko]

I don't know if this is an emotion, per se, but to me it's a real sensation that seems to last only seconds. It can occur almost anytime, anyplace ... but it happens very rarely. It's a feeling of how I felt at some point in the distant past. It can be brought on by almost anything, a familiar smell, a familiar place, etc. And no, it's not Deja Vu, which I have experienced as well --- it's quite different. I don't even know if there's a term for this feeling, or if others have experienced it as well (given my less than great description).

Anything sound familiar, Piggy?

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's normally a smell that sets it off for me.

The sense of experiencing past shame or embarrassment very intently. Like remembering opinions you used to have at 17, or some embarrassing memory.

Ha, yes. Normally accompanied, in my case, by my blurting out loud whatever I was thinking about prior to the embarrassing memory coming on. Presumably in an effort to stave it off somehow.

[ugot2bekidding]

Hm... this post seems strangely familiar (http://forums.randi.org/showpost.php?p=5091625&postcount=12)...

Yea, that's what I get for hastily skimming through threads while at work. At least my post had the source. :D

[Paul2]

The autumn feeling for me is intensified on late Sunday afternoons.

Roger Smith, I believe that's the, used to write a general column for the LA Times, maybe in the 1960s or 70s, and was the first person I'm aware of to identify this feelings. I'd love to find that column, but my Google Fu is not strong enough, apparently.

[rustypouch]

The autumn feeling for me is intensified on late Sunday afternoons.

Roger Smith, I believe that's the, used to write a general column for the LA Times, maybe in the 1960s or 70s, and was the first person I'm aware of to identify this feelings. I'd love to find that column, but my Google Fu is not strong enough, apparently.

Sounds like the long, dark tea-time of the soul.

[Whiplash]

I get this every single year in the fall. I've always assumed it simply was nostalgia.

Fall is my favorite time of year. The weather is perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. All my best memories in life are from in the fall as well. Making new friends in school, parties, losing my virginity. Plus my birthday is on Labor day weekend, and I love Halloween and Thanksgiving. And, football season!

[Piggy]

I don't know if this is an emotion, per se, but to me it's a real sensation that seems to last only seconds. It can occur almost anytime, anyplace ... but it happens very rarely. It's a feeling of how I felt at some point in the distant past. It can be brought on by almost anything, a familiar smell, a familiar place, etc. And no, it's not Deja Vu, which I have experienced as well --- it's quite different. I don't even know if there's a term for this feeling, or if others have experienced it as well (given my less than great description).

Anything sound familiar, Piggy?

Yes, I get that too, on occasion. And it passes so quickly, you don't have time to really catch it. Smells can spark this more than anything in me.

It's like a fleeting emotive memory.

What would you call it?

[Piggy]

I have a hard time putting into words the feeling I get during a bad drinking session or a bad experience with pot. "You think very strange things that seem pretty deep but are very unpleasant and have intrusive thoughts" is the closest.

Antonio Machado wrote this in a poem:

En mi soledad
he visto cosas muy claras
que no son verdades.

In my solitude
I have seen things very clearly
which are not true.

[Piggy]

So, what's that feeling I get when someone is looking over my shoulder reading my computer screen? I'm not secretive and don't care that someone, anyone, sees whats on the screen, and it doesn't necessarily anger me. But it bugs me nonetheless to have someone hovering over my shoulder like that.

Comparanoia

Oh wait... maybe that's the uneasiness some men feel while changing in a locker room. ;)

[Piggy]

There's that feeling you get when someone you love is doing something that makes them happy, but makes you sad. You're happy that they're happy, but you're still sad at the same time. I don't have a word for it.

It's like the opposite of schadenfreude. Pain at other people's happiness, rather than happiness at other people's pain. Or rather, a mixture of pain and happiness because of others' happiness.

[Piggy]

Proxanximity?

Yes! :D

[JoeTheJuggler]

There's one I get when I'm nearing the end of a really good, emotional novel. It's a mixture of a lot of feelings, so much so that about the best way I can describe it is "feelingness". Like just feeling a lot. It's bitterwsweet and just about every other oxymoronic mixture of feelings you can think of. (Not to mention the happy/sad feeling about coming to the end of a book and characters that have become like old friends.)

[Piggy]

A friend and I were once discussing that feeling you get when you feel nostalgia for a place you've never actually been. We both agreed that such an emotion merited its own word. (I used to get that feeling for Vermont. Now I live up here, so I guess in my case it could be called "prestalgia.")

If you had never gone there, it would have remained a parastalgia.

[Piggy]

(Not to mention the happy/sad feeling about coming to the end of a book and characters that have become like old friends.)

I call that feeling the "Watership downer" b/c I most poignantly felt it when I finished that novel the first time.

[Piggy]

The sense of experiencing past shame or embarrassment very intently. Like remembering opinions you used to have at 17, or some embarrassing memory.

These memories, they jump you and make you feel exactly as embarrassed as you did at the time, or should have done at the time but was too young and stupid to do. You get an actual physical reaction - you blush, wish to hide and get a sense of intense self hatred. It usually lasts a few seconds, but it feels like a heart attack.

If anyone knows a word for that feeling, I would be grateful.

Retrogret.

I'm particularly prone to it.

[Piggy]

Trangst?

You owe me a beer because mine just exited my nose!

[Piggy]

Sounds like the long, dark tea-time of the soul.

No, that's a different one altogether, but one I've also experienced.

John Prine referenced it in his song "Donald and Lydia":

"She read romance magazines up in her room,
felt just like Sunday on a Saturday afternoon."

When you get the LDTTOTS on Saturdays, you know you've got it bad.

[athon]

A word I learned not long ago was 'compersion' - the opposite of jealousy. I like using it.

Athon

[Just thinking]

Yes, I get that too, on occasion. And it passes so quickly, you don't have time to really catch it. Smells can spark this more than anything in me.

It's like a fleeting emotive memory.

What would you call it?

I tried to describe it as a moment of hyper-memory, where unlike just recalling a past moment in your mind, it's as if your whole body is re-experiencing that moment. You not only vividly recall the past moment, you get an overall sensation of as you were way back then in the past as well.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Antonio Machado wrote this in a poem:

En mi soledad
he visto cosas muy claras
que no son verdades.

In my solitude
I have seen things very clearly
which are not true.


Oh, I know that feeling.

That isn't what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the feeling of being paranoid and depressed and unhappy and confused and uncomfortable.

[Piggy]

I'm talking about the feeling of being paranoid and depressed and unhappy and confused and uncomfortable.

I know. I think, from other threads, you can understand that I do know what you mean.

But what I'm saying is what Machado was saying.

In our solitude, we see things very clearly... which are not true.

Those words have sometimes been the flotation device under my seat cushion. ;)

[Piggy]

I tried to describe it as a moment of hyper-memory, where unlike just recalling a past moment in your mind, it's as if your whole body is re-experiencing that moment. You not only vividly recall the past moment, you get an overall sensation of as you were way back then in the past as well.

Tardisfunction?

[Just thinking]

Tardisfunction?

Who?

[P.J. Denyer]

What's the word for when you find out the girl is a tranny?

I think you need two words depending on whether you find out before or after.......

[StanBearclaw]

I have another one. It's sort of an inverse deja vu. It's when you're reading something, then all of a sudden you see a word and it's as if you've never seen it before. You still know what it means and everything, but it just seems off.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

I know. I think, from other threads, you can understand that I do know what you mean.

But what I'm saying is what Machado was saying.

In our solitude, we see things very clearly... which are not true.

Those words have sometimes been the flotation device under my seat cushion. ;)

Well...ok, full disclosure. I was referring to something specific. A few days ago, I tried marijuana (I had previously smoked it only once before, when I was 15 years old) and got a pretty bad reaction from it. Very unpleasant. Maybe it was also the fact that I didn't know the person I was doing it with too well and wasn't comfortable with him and we were in a semi public place and were afraid of getting caught and so I was on edge and it made me even more on edge. Anyhow, it was pretty nasty. Like having a bad side effect from medication.

I had to go to a bar for a few drinks with my acquaintance after it was all over, to have some fun that night.

I later tried it again with the acquaintance and it was better that time; I actually enjoyed it. Go figure.

[dasmiller]

I think you need two words depending on whether you find out before or after.......

Ohhh - I was drinking coffee when I read that and almost sprayed it all over the monitor.

Okay, back to the subject at hand -

There's a sort of a non-feeling I've experienced, when an ex-girlfriend tells you how well things have gone for her since you broke up, and now she's engaged and wants you to "just be happy for her." For the incident in question, I didn't feel particularly happy for her, but neither did I feel resentful, or angry, or . . . well, anything. Sort of a 'destructive interference' among the various conflicting emotions.

[Maia]

I have another one. It's sort of an inverse deja vu. It's when you're reading something, then all of a sudden you see a word and it's as if you've never seen it before. You still know what it means and everything, but it just seems off.

The technical term is jamais vu. Seeing, hearing, or reading something that should be familiar, but doesn't seem to be.

But it's not a good sign to have this a lot... because that can be a red flag for temporal lobe epilepsy. Er, this isn't meant as a substitute for medical advice or anything... anyway, have a nice day. :)

[StanBearclaw]

The technical term is jamais vu. Seeing, hearing, or reading something that should be familiar, but doesn't seem to be.

But it's not a good sign to have this a lot... because that can be a red flag for temporal lobe epilepsy. Er, this isn't meant as a substitute for medical advice or anything... anyway, have a nice day. :)

Uh oh. What qualifies as "a lot"?

Actually, this bit from the wiki entry eases my mind:
The TimesOnline reports:

Chris Moulin, of Leeds University, asked 92 volunteers to write out "door" 30 times in 60 seconds. At the International Conference on Memory in Sydney last week he reported that 68 per cent of his guinea pigs showed symptoms of jamais vu, such as beginning to doubt that "door" was a real word.

That sort of thing has been very similar to what my feelings have been. A recent example happened when I was listening to a Modern Scholar lecture on the archeological evidence of Troy. I heard the word "excavation" dozens and dozens of times during the day. Then I went to read some of the course notes, and when I saw the word printed, it looked completely foreign and I had to sound out its pronunciation. It just seemed so wrong.

[madurobob]

Uh oh. What qualifies as "a lot"?

Actually, this bit from the wiki entry eases my mind:


That sort of thing has been very similar to what my feelings have been. A recent example happened when I was listening to a Modern Scholar lecture on the archeological evidence of Troy. I heard the word "excavation" dozens and dozens of times during the day. Then I went to read some of the course notes, and when I saw the word printed, it looked completely foreign and I had to sound out its pronunciation. It just seemed so wrong.

A similar thing happened to my wife many years ago. She was a psychologist specializing in early development and read a story about unique development characteristics in this tribe she had never heard of. She was perplexed that there could be so much research on this tribe and she'd not seen one bit of it. I asked her the tribe name and she said "hoo-mons".

Yeah, it was spelled "humans".

[ZirconBlue]

I know this probably doesn't belong in this section of the forum, but I don't know where it does belong, so if it's misplaced, I'll let the mods decide...

What are the emotions we don't have names for in English?

I'm thinking of one I'll call autumnence.

It's a feeling I get whenever autumn sets in. It's not nostalgia -- not even the Portuguese saudade -- and not loneliness... but it's unique to the season....

I find myself remembering the past, recent years, my youth, even my boyhood. Every sight and smell sparks recollections. And I want someone to be with -- to go to the movies with... to sit by the fire with... to walk in the woods with....

It's a kind of longing. But a longing without any particular object.

So what other emotions do we experience that we have not yet crafted terms for?

But a pleasant feeling? That first cool, distinctly autumnal day of the year always brings on similar feelings for me, but it's almost euphoric. It brings back those feelings of autumns past, but not in a regretful way. I feel somehow transported back to happier times and feelings.

Does "optipest" work? It's when I'm feeling sort of optimistic, but not really.

Optimistish?

I get this every single year in the fall. I've always assumed it simply was nostalgia.

Fall is my favorite time of year. The weather is perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. All my best memories in life are from in the fall as well. Making new friends in school, parties, losing my virginity. Plus my birthday is on Labor day weekend, and I love Halloween and Thanksgiving. And, football season!

Exactly! Except for the football part. And the birthday part. And the virginity part. But otherwise, exactly!

"Nostalgia" to me always has an element of sadness that those times are passed. This autumnal feeling, though, is almost completely positive for me.

A word I learned not long ago was 'compersion' - the opposite of jealousy.

How does that work, exactly?

[Maia]

Actually, this bit from the wiki entry eases my mind:

Quote:
The TimesOnline reports:

Chris Moulin, of Leeds University, asked 92 volunteers to write out "door" 30 times in 60 seconds. At the International Conference on Memory in Sydney last week he reported that 68 per cent of his guinea pigs showed symptoms of jamais vu, such as beginning to doubt that "door" was a real word.
That sort of thing has been very similar to what my feelings have been. A recent example happened when I was listening to a Modern Scholar lecture on the archeological evidence of Troy. I heard the word "excavation" dozens and dozens of times during the day. Then I went to read some of the course notes, and when I saw the word printed, it looked completely foreign and I had to sound out its pronunciation. It just seemed so wrong.
*

I believe... from my understanding of it in the context of both temporal lobe epilepsy and the phenomenon of depersonalization disorder... that in those contexts, jamais vu is actually always going to be an experience very different from the above. The way it's described by folks with diagnosed TLE, for instance, is in the context of experiences such as: "I got to the bank in my neighborhood, and I'd been there about 80,000 times before, and then I suddenly realized that I had no idea where anything was in the area surrounding it (i.e., anything related to the entire neighborhood outside the bank.) I could have been dropped on the surface of another planet for all I knew." So it's a lot more extreme, and it's not really preceded by anything.

[StanBearclaw]

Nothing that severe with me. It's never happened with anything but words.

So that's a relief. I was about to move epilepsy to the "probable" column on my hypochondria chart. Phew.

[Tiktaalik]

Wow, autmumnence! I get that! I've got it right now! It has to do with going back to school and cool mornings and playing outside after dark and the smell of decaying oak leaves and kind of a feeling of something new going to happen which I am looking forward to or expecting...

I get another feeling for which there's no name sometimes, the feeling of being in exactly the right place at the right time (right time in the universe, almost). It most often happens when I've been on a long hike up a mountain and I'm sitting at the top looking out over everything & even though I'm tired and hungry everything is Just Right.

Another nameless feeling I get that is similar to the one above is when I'm backpacking and looking for where to set up my tent or alternatively where to go squat in the woods. It has to be The Right Place, and I know it when I find it, but I don't know why. It's a kind of Safeness to be Vulnerable feeling...

[Piggy]

But a pleasant feeling? That first cool, distinctly autumnal day of the year always brings on similar feelings for me, but it's almost euphoric. It brings back those feelings of autumns past, but not in a regretful way. I feel somehow transported back to happier times and feelings.

Yes, I like it. I would miss it greatly if an autumn came round and I didn't feel it.

I wonder what it would be like, tho, if one September it turned out I actually did have a girlfriend again.... What would that be like? Would half of the experience be gone?

[Piggy]

I get another feeling for which there's no name sometimes, the feeling of being in exactly the right place at the right time (right time in the universe, almost). It most often happens when I've been on a long hike up a mountain and I'm sitting at the top looking out over everything & even though I'm tired and hungry everything is Just Right.

Syncronicety

[Piggy]

Embathy: The cringing feeling you get when witnessing someone else's embarrassment.

[ZirconBlue]

Yes, I like it. I would miss it greatly if an autumn came round and I didn't feel it.

I wonder what it would be like, tho, if one September it turned out I actually did have a girlfriend again.... What would that be like? Would half of the experience be gone?

I suspect it would just reinforce that feeling.

Embathy: The cringing feeling you get when witnessing someone else's embarrassment.

Well what's the feeling you get when clandestinely watching someone bathe, then?

[madurobob]

I believe... from my understanding of it in the context of both temporal lobe epilepsy and the phenomenon of depersonalization disorder... that in those contexts, jamais vu is actually always going to be an experience very different from the above. The way it's described by folks with diagnosed TLE, for instance, is in the context of experiences such as: "I got to the bank in my neighborhood, and I'd been there about 80,000 times before, and then I suddenly realized that I had no idea where anything was in the area surrounding it (i.e., anything related to the entire neighborhood outside the bank.) I could have been dropped on the surface of another planet for all I knew." So it's a lot more extreme, and it's not really preceded by anything.

Oh-oh.

This, in fact, has happened to me several times - perhaps every few years. Its almost always while driving. I'll be daydreaming or otherwise thinking intensely when something on the road will grab my attention and I'll realize I have no idea where I am or where I am going.

Its a bizarre sensation and not at all frightening (OK, it was the first time 25 years or so ago). I'll know I'm not far from home so I figure I'll drive a bit further and some landmark will shake me back into reality. It always works, and I always eventually remember what errand I was on. The whole episode lasts maybe 15 seconds.

So, temporal lobe epilepsy huh? Great.

[Piggy]

Well what's the feeling you get when clandestinely watching someone bathe, then?

Who am I watching? Scarlett Johansson or Newt Gingrich?

[arthwollipot]

It's like the opposite of schadenfreude. Pain at other people's happiness, rather than happiness at other people's pain. Or rather, a mixture of pain and happiness because of others' happiness.Yes. That one. Have you read my posts in SWOYMRN? Or should I give you a quick summary? :)

[arthwollipot]

A word I learned not long ago was 'compersion' - the opposite of jealousy. I like using it.
How does that work, exactly?I learned the word several years ago, and it very much resonated with me. It's related to what I posted earlier - what Piggy described as the opposite of schadenfreude, but not quite - which is why I didn't use the word before. Compersion is the pleasure you feel when you know your loved one is experiencing pleasure.

[Myriad]

Is there a word for that feeling you get when you look to the west, and your spirit is crying for leaving? For me it causes thoughts of seeing rings of smoke through the trees, and the voices of those who stand looking.

It just makes me wonder, that's all. It really makes me wonder.

Respectfully,
Myriad

[ZirconBlue]

Who am I watching? Scarlett Johansson or Newt Gingrich?

Whichever one you would enjoy watching. I'm suspecting the former, but I'll bet even Newt has his groupies.

Is there a word for that feeling you get when you look to the west, and your spirit is crying for leaving? For me it causes thoughts of seeing rings of smoke through the trees, and the voices of those who stand looking.

It just makes me wonder, that's all. It really makes me wonder.


Led Poisoning?

[Maia]

Oh-oh.

This, in fact, has happened to me several times - perhaps every few years. Its almost always while driving. I'll be daydreaming or otherwise thinking intensely when something on the road will grab my attention and I'll realize I have no idea where I am or where I am going.

Its a bizarre sensation and not at all frightening (OK, it was the first time 25 years or so ago). I'll know I'm not far from home so I figure I'll drive a bit further and some landmark will shake me back into reality. It always works, and I always eventually remember what errand I was on. The whole episode lasts maybe 15 seconds.

So, temporal lobe epilepsy huh? Great.

ACK!! Nobody can be diagnosed over the internet, you know. ;) I doubt it's TLE, to say the least, but only your neurologist knows for sure. I just think you'd be having it MUCH more often if that were the case.

Okay, I will fess up: I've worked with TLE folks, and I also have TLE (diagnosed by qEEG). Weird, weird stuff. But I also used to have things like preauras (prickling over half of my body and smelling oranges and lemons before a TLE episode) and postauras (headaches and feeling very weak after an episode). In a more general sense, I think you could say that a feeling of having emotions that you can't name, that don't make sense, that don't relate to anything and don't feel real can absolutely be very much a part of TLE episodes. That's kind of what intrigues me about it in relation to the topic of the thread. And I would say that I really don't have nearly as much of that since the lovely day when antiepileptic drugs came along. :)

[StanBearclaw]

Led Poisoning?

Usually accompanied by Page and Plantar warts.

[calebprime]

ACK!! Nobody can be diagnosed over the internet, you know. ;) I doubt it's TLE, to say the least, but only your neurologist knows for sure. I just think you'd be having it MUCH more often if that were the case.

Okay, I will fess up: I've worked with TLE folks, and I also have TLE (diagnosed by qEEG). Weird, weird stuff. But I also used to have things like preauras (prickling over half of my body and smelling oranges and lemons before a TLE episode) and postauras (headaches and feeling very weak after an episode). In a more general sense, I think you could say that a feeling of having emotions that you can't name, that don't make sense, that don't relate to anything and don't feel real can absolutely be very much a part of TLE episodes. That's kind of what intrigues me about it in relation to the topic of the thread. And I would say that I really don't have nearly as much of that since the lovely day when antiepileptic drugs came along. :)

0ff-topic, and not important.

So the Topomax wasn't off-label use.

I was fascinated by the story you told of how you and some of the people you knew who took it experienced a new state of mind that was a revelation for you and a challenge for some of the others.

Compare/contrast somewhat similar stories about: Prozac, LSD, marijuana, nitrous oxide, cocaine. eta: L-Dopa!

What they share is an astonishment that you can feel so different, and that this different is better.

Lauren Slater, Richard Alpert, , [ten gazillion musicians], eta: William James, Freud, Coleridge, DaQuincy.

I think Jerry Garcia said that he valued what heroin "showed" him. Taking this seriously for a second, it probably showed him that he could be free of physical pain, and free of loneliness and anxiety, and free of opiate withdrawal, and beyond care, for a while.

I'm not equating these substances.

Question is, what's sustainable, what are the downsides and side-effects.

Again, it can come as a surprise that one can feel different.

[Piggy]

Whichever one you would enjoy watching. I'm suspecting the former

We have a word for that... it's called "lust".

[Maia]

0ff-topic, and not important.

So the Topomax wasn't off-label use.

I was fascinated by the story you told of how you and some of the people you knew who took it experienced a new state of mind that was a revelation for you and a challenge for some of the others.

Compare/contrast somewhat similar stories about: Prozac, LSD, marijuana, nitrous oxide, cocaine. eta: L-Dopa!

What they share is an astonishment that you can feel so different, and that this different is better.

Lauren Slater, Richard Alpert, , [ten gazillion musicians], eta: William James, Freud, Coleridge, DaQuincy.

I think Jerry Garcia said that he valued what heroin "showed" him. Taking this seriously for a second, it probably showed him that he could be free of physical pain, and free of loneliness and anxiety, and free of opiate withdrawal, and beyond care, for a while.

I'm not equating these substances.

Question is, what's sustainable, what are the downsides and side-effects.

Again, it can come as a surprise that one can feel different.

I do take Topamax for more than one reason-- one is onlabel (TLE) and the other is technically offlabel (but is backed up by studies, so there's a reason to do it, anyway!) ;) Now, I'll go with the majority opinion here, but I don't think this is OT in that there do seem to be a lot of... subjective inner experiences... associated with these conditions, and that they tend to be ones that seem to be quite ineffable, for good or bad. So speaking of emotions that don't have names, they can certainly be it.

Okay, here's another question for all: what about other inner experiences that don't have names? Things that aren't emotions?

[shandyjan]

No, it's not like that at all. I know it's very hard to describe (at least for me), but the best way I can put it is that it gives me an overall feeling that is somewhat euphoric in nature, but it's not a sense of euphoria. (I'm sure that cleared things up, eh?) And it's by no means a flashback of any sort; it's just an overall feeling that comes over me ... and then quickly leaves. But boy does it ever give me a feeling of how I felt many years ago ... even in my youth. (I do not take drugs of any sort, nor am I on any medication when this happens --- just in case any of you are wondering.) It just seems to give me a sense of being back at some time when something pleasant or familiar was happening (even though I am fully aware of when and where I am at all times), something more than just an emotional flashback. I guess you might describe it best as a brief blast of having hyper-memory.

Music can do the same for me. A song that I havnt heard or thought of in years surprises me on the radio, and wham a fleeting feeling from exactly when I listened to the song in my youth/childhood, almost like I'm back in time. It passes so quickly though. It isnt just nostalgia, or memories in the same form as happens all the time when you hear something from your past..it is a sudden feeling of being back in yourself. And hard to describe!

[Just thinking]

Now if only there was a term, or condition used to describe this ... as its becoming evident that this is a shared experience.

[Olowkow]

The feeling I get when the doorbell rings, and I assume it is one of my friends, but open the door to find out it is a couple of Mormons in suits. That is "Ohnomormomania".

[Just thinking]

I call it Jesushchrist syndrom.

[fishbait]

Ya know that feeling when you're leaning back in a chair, balancing on the back legs, and you lean back a little too far and for an instant you're out of control and don't know if you're going to fall backward or forward and you wave your arms frantically? What's that called? I feel like that all the time whether I'm in a chair or not.

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

How about the feelings that accompany certain days of the week? Sunday, Friday, and, ughh, Monday

[Maia]

Ya know that feeling when you're leaning back in a chair, balancing on the back legs, and you lean back a little too far and for an instant you're out of control and don't know if you're going to fall backward or forward and you wave your arms frantically? What's that called? I feel like that all the time whether I'm in a chair or not.
NOTHING IN THIS POST IS INTENDED TO REPLACE MEDICAL ADVICE.

Ahem. That being said, a number of inner ear thingies can cause this. Most of them are completely benign. :)

[LightningStrike]

The distinction between sensation and emotion is the most important distinction to make in one's own experience. For example the reality of autumn that the OP describes is in the first place sensational, an experience registered by all the various senses. The second way is that this is interpreted and emotionalised.
I live in the sensational reality and love it. Love is not an emotion, it is a sensation.

[arthwollipot]

Love is not an emotion, it is a sensation.It's both.

[Burning Beard]

Ya know that feeling when you're leaning back in a chair, balancing on the back legs, and you lean back a little too far and for an instant you're out of control and don't know if you're going to fall backward or forward and you wave your arms frantically? What's that called? I feel like that all the time whether I'm in a chair or not.

That's from a Stephen Wright gag isn't it?

[Tiktaalik]

Ya know that feeling when you're leaning back in a chair, balancing on the back legs, and you lean back a little too far and for an instant you're out of control and don't know if you're going to fall backward or forward and you wave your arms frantically? What's that called? I feel like that all the time whether I'm in a chair or not.

HermanMillerPhobia.

[DropGems]

What's that one feeling... I used to get it when I was like 8-12 but haven't gotten it in a really long time, like probably 15 years. I used to describe it as a feeling of enlightenment or an awakening. Where everything would just make total sense for about I dunno 5 to 10 secs. Almost like you're on some other level of consciousness. It's almost like deja vu-esque but it's not.

Also I haven't had a good deja vu in the longest time. I used to get it quite frequently and it would last really long like 10-15 secs. Now whenever I get it (which is rare), it's so insignificant. Does it decrease with age? I miss it.

I totally get the smell/memory thing btw. It's like you can smell your past. It's interesting.

[madurobob]

What's that one feeling... I used to get it when I was like 8-12 but haven't gotten it in a really long time, like probably 15 years. I used to describe it as a feeling of enlightenment or an awakening. Where everything would just make total sense for about I dunno 5 to 10 secs. Almost like you're on some other level of consciousness. It's almost like deja vu-esque but it's not.

Sobriety? ;)

[Piggy]

Love is not an emotion, it is a sensation.

It is neither. It is an action.

[learner]

Love is - "the drug" :)

[DropGems]

Sobriety? ;)

Ha... I'm serious though. My dad had the enlightened feeling too when he was younger. We're both atheist skeptics so it's not some spiritual thing. I need to figure it out.

[Piggy]

Ha... I'm serious though. My dad had the enlightened feeling too when he was younger. We're both atheist skeptics so it's not some spiritual thing. I need to figure it out.

I don't know that I ever had that -- outside of an acid trip -- but I do get this emotion sometimes of kind of being in love with everything.

Like you're driving to an appointment and the sky is perfectly blue and the letterboard out in front of the pick-your-own berry patch is like some kind of sign of the way things ought to be, and a farmer is turning windrows on his tractor and the old flag on the little pole in the used car lot is snapping in the wind and with all its faults you love it anyway.

What's the word for that?

[Richard Masters]

The sense of experiencing past shame or embarrassment very intently. Like remembering opinions you used to have at 17, or some embarrassing memory.

These memories, they jump you and make you feel exactly as embarrassed as you did at the time, or should have done at the time but was too young and stupid to do. You get an actual physical reaction - you blush, wish to hide and get a sense of intense self hatred. It usually lasts a few seconds, but it feels like a heart attack.

If anyone knows a word for that feeling, I would be grateful.


It's called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with Social Anxiety, Social Phobias and Panic Attacks.

[Piggy]

It's called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with Social Anxiety, Social Phobias and Panic Attacks.

Ok, well, if you want to put it like that....

[Richard Masters]

Ok, well, if you want to put it like that....

:) I used to get that exact same feeling quite often and would have attributed to the above. These days I'm so extremely bored and anhedonic, I can't remember embarrassing times like that in sufficient detail.

[LightningStrike]

Love and emotion. Love starts out as attraction, if you love something it is first of all a sensational attraction, and the movement is to unite or be with that person, object or state. Emotion comes in when a personal attachment develops, the self wants to hold onto the sensational state of love. It degrades love into an emotion. Love in it's natural state is ever present in the body. We leave love, love never leaves us. All bodies and objects have to leave but not the state within.

[Piggy]

:) I used to get that exact same feeling quite often and would have attributed to the above. These days I'm so extremely bored and anhedonic, I can't remember embarrassing times like that in sufficient detail.

I hear ya. Anhedonia is what first made me face the Big Choice (get help or get out). I had never heard the term, but when I heard it described there was no doubt.

Anyway, I think you're right about the other -- except maybe not about the panic attacks. I don't think it's that extreme. All you have to have are the other 3.

Still, it deserves its own name, no?

[Richard Masters]

I hear ya. Anhedonia is what first made me face the Big Choice (get help or get out). I had never heard the term, but when I heard it described there was no doubt.

Anyway, I think you're right about the other -- except maybe not about the panic attacks. I don't think it's that extreme. All you have to have are the other 3.

Still, it deserves its own name, no?

Yeah, retrogret is a good name for that emotion, though I might call it a stressful retrogret, due to the feeling of being smothered by a pillow. As for the off-the-cuff, non-professional diagnostic label, I would say (social?) anxiety is enough.

[arthwollipot]

It degrades love into an emotion.You say that as though it's a bad thing.

[LightningStrike]

You say that as though it's a bad thing.
It is, the degradation and ignorance of love between man and woman is the primary cause of unhappiness on earth.

[arthwollipot]

It is, the degradation and ignorance of love between man and woman is the primary cause of unhappiness on earth.Emotions are the cause of unhappiness? Considering that unhappiness is an emotion, I can't exactly disagree with that. But "degradation"? I don't think so.

I would not give up my emotions for anything. They're what make life worth living. I did the "spock" thing for years. I much prefer to be capable of feeling joy and sadness, and yes, love.

If love is "degraded" into an emotion, what would you prefer it to be?

Furthermore, what do you call love between a man and a man?

[Tricky]

How about Jealousmirky. It's the ambiguous feeling you get when you see some jerk hooking up with your old girlfriend, knowing full well she's gonna break his balls.

[Piggy]

It is, the degradation and ignorance of love between man and woman is the primary cause of unhappiness on earth.

So you can't get laid either, huh?

[Piggy]

How about Jealousmirky. It's the ambiguous feeling you get when you see some jerk hooking up with your old girlfriend, knowing full well she's gonna break his balls.

For some reason that makes me think of speedenfreude -- the wicked feeling of exhiliration you get when you pass a cop car who has pulled over someone who tried to drive up your tailpipe for a mile then blew by you on a double yellow.

[arthwollipot]

For some reason that makes me think of speedenfreude -- the wicked feeling of exhiliration you get when you pass a cop car who has pulled over someone who tried to drive up your tailpipe for a mile then blew by you on a double yellow.Here in Canberra we have, in certain locations, fixed speed cameras. They're blatantly signposted and stuck up on poles for everyone to see, and I'm quite frankly surprised they catch anyone at all. There's one on the Tuggeranong Parkway northbound, at the bottom of a long hill. Athon knows the one I mean. The speed limit is 100kph, but you often get people who are doing the parkway at 115-120 slowing down to 85 to pass the camera, then speeding up again once they're past.

Best thing I ever saw was a cop with a radar gun standing about 1km past the camera busting everyone. Absolute gold.

[LightningStrike]

Emotions are the cause of unhappiness? Considering that unhappiness is an emotion, I can't exactly disagree with that. But "degradation"? I don't think so.

I would not give up my emotions for anything. They're what make life worth living. I did the "spock" thing for years. I much prefer to be capable of feeling joy and sadness, and yes, love.

If love is "degraded" into an emotion, what would you prefer it to be?

Furthermore, what do you call love between a man and a man?

You have only quoted sensations joy, sadness and love that reduce or degrade to emotion.
Degradation I define here as- love viewed through the pains of the past resulting in an extremely reduced frequency.
Joy is a sensation.
Sadness is the sense of loss, a sense which passes, but in us usually becomes suffering (emotion).
Love starts as the sense of attraction, becoming sensational/bodily lovemaking and finally transcends feeling(emotion) and becomes pure knowledge.


(love between man and man=love) Why not? all love is beautiful.

[LightningStrike]

So you can't get laid either, huh?

Woman is concerned with love , man with sex. She tortures man with emotion because she is not being loved enough. What's the difference between sex and love? Does anyone know?

[learner]

Woman is concerned with love , man with sex. She tortures man with emotion because she is not being loved enough. What's the difference between sex and love? Does anyone know?


That reads like nonsense and when read out loud sounds like it as well.

Are you realy saying men are only concerned with sex and not love?

[Praktik]

I know this probably doesn't belong in this section of the forum, but I don't know where it does belong, so if it's misplaced, I'll let the mods decide...

What are the emotions we don't have names for in English?

I'm thinking of one I'll call autumnence.

It's a feeling I get whenever autumn sets in. It's not nostalgia -- not even the Portuguese saudade -- and not loneliness... but it's unique to the season....

I find myself remembering the past, recent years, my youth, even my boyhood. Every sight and smell sparks recollections. And I want someone to be with -- to go to the movies with... to sit by the fire with... to walk in the woods with....

It's a kind of longing. But a longing without any particular object.

So what other emotions do we experience that we have not yet crafted terms for?

Ha! I get that too. I think its cause my bday is right after halloween - so I always had LOADS of anticipation when the leaves started to turn.

The smell of desiccating leaves is wonderful to me. And I love the cool temperatures.

[Maia]

That reads like nonsense and when read out loud sounds like it as well.

Are you realy saying men are only concerned with sex and not love?

Actually, Learner,I think that by even asking a question of that much coherency you're giving LS's statement a whole lot more credit for making sense than it deserves.

[Tricky]

Why not? all love is beautiful.
No, love between man and hyena is definitely not beautiful. It is disgusting and highly dangerous. And it's nothing to laugh at.

[LightningStrike]

No, love between man and hyena is definitely not beautiful. It is disgusting and highly dangerous. And it's nothing to laugh at.

You are talking sex

[terry_leopard]

If I stand at the edge of a cliff a small part of my mind starts telling me "you could jump off of there you know"
It's not a suicidal / depressed feeling, but more a kind of exhilarated tingling that starts by makes my toes curl and usually leads to a big grin appearing on my lips.

I also get something similar if I stand on a beach I will start thinking "hey I could throw my car keys into the sea, and I would never find them again" and it makes me smile.

What should I call that feeling?

[Stray Cat]

I don't know what this emoticon is called ---> :p


Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[Stray Cat]

If I stand at the edge of a cliff a small part of my mind starts telling me "you could jump off of there you know"
It's not a suicidal / depressed feeling, but more a kind of exhilarated tingling that starts by makes my toes curl and usually leads to a big grin appearing on my lips.
That is (I believe) a recognised condition.
A lot of people who have some sort of fear of heights aren't frightened of accidentally falling, they are frightened of intentionally jumping... The urge is common... strange, but still, we are funny lot really.

[Marduk]

A word I learned not long ago was 'compersion' - the opposite of jealousy. I like using it.

Athon

from wiki
The definition of compersion is often mistakenly referred to as "the opposite of jealousy",[3] with the term jealousy explicitly used to describe one's pain towards a lover's positive experience with a perceived rival. However, various forms of jealousy, including the explicit fear of losing a relationship, can still coexist with feelings of compersion. This paradox suggests that compersion is more complex than simply being an opposite of jealousy, and that it is more likely a mental state of its own.

only people in polyamourous relationships think Compersion is the opposite of jealousy, thats because in general they use it as a crutch to overcome societies conditioning, the real opposites of jealousy are trust and love.
:p

[terry_leopard]

That is (I believe) a recognised condition.
A lot of people who have some sort of fear of heights aren't frightened of accidentally falling, they are frightened of intentionally jumping... The urge is common... strange, but still, we are funny lot really.

Do you know what the condition is called?

I would be really interested in learning more about it!

I'm not frightened of heights at all.

The feeling isn't frightening, but exhilarating, like a realization that something so simple as taking a single step forward could have such a dramatic result

[zerospeaks]

This may sound like a joke but I am being serious.

I can't exactly describe this emotion, but it is a really strong one and I get it. Normally when someone is saying or doing something that is embarrassing themselves, or about to embarrass themselves. Or when someone is saying something that is completely wrong and I know it, but I sit there quietly and listen intently anyway, maybe even nod my head and smile.

It feels like a tingling at the back of my head where my neck meets my skull. The feeling is quite strange. But it is euphoric. Very pleasurable. I normally don't want the feeling to pass and will sit there and think about the moment that caused the feeling after the moment has passed to try and sustain that feeling as long as I can because it feels so good.

The last time I felt it was yesterday when Jehovah witnesses came by and knocked on the door. I greeted them and they started to read from the bible. Even though I already know the bible and have read it cover to cover, and I think JW's are nuts. I stood there and listened politely anyway. Even encouraged them to read some more a little.

It probably sounds like I am joking but I am not. I don't know if there is a weird name out there for that feeling or not. I have tried to describe the sensation to my wife and when it happens and she (being a neuroscientist) just smirks at me and says. "Dear, I have no idea what sensation your talking about and I have never felt it. I think you are just weird."

[Psi Baba]

The feeling is quite strange. But it is euphoric. Very pleasurable. I normally don't want the feeling to pass and will sit there and think about the moment that caused the feeling after the moment has passed to try and sustain that feeling as long as I can because it feels so good.
You've precisely described a feeling I sometimes get, but which results from completely different circumstances. I've experienced this since childhood and have never put into words until now. I will get this euphoric feeling any time someone focuses their attention on some object that belongs to me. For example, if someone picks up an object from my desk (something put there to be displayed or maybe a book) and looks it over. (When I was young, it would be a friend looking at stuff in my room.) But the important part is they must not interact with me. I'm ignoring them, and they are ignoring me, but their attention is directed to something that is mine. They feeling is extremely euphoric, but if they talk to me, the mood is shattered. I can get a similar feeling while getting a haircut, but the stylist must be talking to someone else in the room, not me, while paying attention to my hair. It even occurs if an office equipment repair person is working on some machine in my proximity. I wonder if anyone else gets this or knows what I mean. The best term I can come up with would be "Objectification sans interaction."

BTW, Just Thinking's fleeting feeling thing happens to me quite lot as well. JT, I know exactly what you are getting at.

[ZirconBlue]

No, love between man and hyena is definitely not beautiful. It is disgusting and highly dangerous. And it's nothing to laugh at.


Tell that to the hyenas!

[Piggy]

If I stand at the edge of a cliff a small part of my mind starts telling me "you could jump off of there you know"
It's not a suicidal / depressed feeling, but more a kind of exhilarated tingling that starts by makes my toes curl and usually leads to a big grin appearing on my lips.

I also get something similar if I stand on a beach I will start thinking "hey I could throw my car keys into the sea, and I would never find them again" and it makes me smile.

What should I call that feeling?

Oh, yeah, I get that! Like you think, "I could stick my fingers in this machine."

It's like this bizarre temptation to do something you know is completely insane.

Psychotingle?

[Whiplash]

Oh, yeah, I get that! Like you think, "I could stick my fingers in this machine."

It's like this bizarre temptation to do something you know is completely insane.

Psychotingle?


Me too, me too. I've had this happen to me all throughout life. When I was at Niagara Falls for the first time, I found myself seriously contemplating what would happen if I just jumped into the water near the point of no return and rode it out. Or dropping something valuable down a sewer, purposely. Or like you said, just imagining shoving my fingers into a moving machine. I don't get it. I've never followed through on it. I'm not sure I'd actually want to follow through on it, ever. It still comes on as some morbid curious idea.. what if I did this? Imagining it through all the details.

[AliasN]

What's that one feeling... I used to get it when I was like 8-12 but haven't gotten it in a really long time, like probably 15 years. I used to describe it as a feeling of enlightenment or an awakening. Where everything would just make total sense for about I dunno 5 to 10 secs. Almost like you're on some other level of consciousness. It's almost like deja vu-esque but it's not.

Also I haven't had a good deja vu in the longest time. I used to get it quite frequently and it would last really long like 10-15 secs. Now whenever I get it (which is rare), it's so insignificant. Does it decrease with age? I miss it.

I totally get the smell/memory thing btw. It's like you can smell your past. It's interesting.
I completely identify with this post. I used to get that a lot around that age, in bed late at night, not being able to sleep because my mind wouldn't shut off. Sometimes I'd get a weird feeling of calm, like a oneness with the universe and a feeling that everything was as it should be and that I had the answers to everything, it was on the tip of my tongue (so to speak)... and then it'd be gone.

I haven't really had that sort of thing in my adulthood. Well, once in my twenties whilst walking down a beautiful, autumn tree-lined street. But it was very fleeting. Haven't had it again. But I know what you mean. Glad I'm not the only one.

[arthwollipot]

I've experienced so many emotions over the last few days that I'd hesitate to give names to any of them.

[zerospeaks]

If I stand at the edge of a cliff a small part of my mind starts telling me "you could jump off of there you know"

I get this in a weird way!

I will be in the middle of a conversation with someone, even someone I like,respect,love whatever...

And suddenly a voice inside my head will say....

"Ya know, you could totally punch him in the face right now and it would be exhilarating!"

[Dr. Tobias Fünke]

The sense of experiencing past shame or embarrassment very intently. Like remembering opinions you used to have at 17, or some embarrassing memory.

These memories, they jump you and make you feel exactly as embarrassed as you did at the time, or should have done at the time but was too young and stupid to do. You get an actual physical reaction - you blush, wish to hide and get a sense of intense self hatred. It usually lasts a few seconds, but it feels like a heart attack.

If anyone knows a word for that feeling, I would be grateful.


I know that one. Works everytime, even for the same embarassing memory :D

[Dr. Tobias Fünke]

Also, is there a simple expression or single word for the vicarious shame I sometimes feel for people who don't seem too fussed themselves. Like how someone else at a completely different table stiffing the service staff makes me feel ashamed though it has nothing to do with me.



In German it is "Fremdschämen" (which is a neologism - ta -daa! :D ) which literally translates to "strangeembarassment".

[softstuff]

Me too, me too. I've had this happen to me all throughout life. When I was at Niagara Falls for the first time, I found myself seriously contemplating what would happen if I just jumped into the water near the point of no return and rode it out. Or dropping something valuable down a sewer, purposely. Or like you said, just imagining shoving my fingers into a moving machine. I don't get it. I've never followed through on it. I'm not sure I'd actually want to follow through on it, ever. It still comes on as some morbid curious idea.. what if I did this? Imagining it through all the details.

I get that when I go near a garden sprinkler. I stand watching it imagining running through it fully clothed. I prefer my version, it seems safer!

[sonofgloin]

It's a feeling I get whenever autumn sets in. It's not nostalgia -- not even the Portuguese saudade -- and not loneliness... but it's unique to the season....
I find myself remembering the past, recent years, my youth, even my boyhood. Every sight and smell sparks recollections.


Piggy, it is akin to a dejuvu, it is a sense experiencing a very particular past experience that encompasses all the sense. I usually get it every year or two and my trigger is spring. On no particular morning I may step outside and the change of season hits me, it's notcably different from yesterday and the emotional memory comes. My senses are recalling spring and my thoughts go to the first time that I had felt the feeling and that was as a boy of six or seven in the early morning heading down to the river to muck around, a happy happy memory. So you may just be onto something that can be identified as a particular response.

[sonofgloin]

In German it is "Fremdschämen" (which is a neologism - ta -daa! :D ) which literally translates to "strangeembarassment".


Amazingly direct culture the Germans, as you know they have a word for the taking of pleasure in anothers misfortune "schadenfreude" makes you wonder if it came into use because of the pro moral fibre of the culture, or they (do or had) regularly practiced it.