What Do You Feel Right Now? What do you think is your predominant emotion? Most people will say they are usually positive and happy. What I have found over the past 30+ years as a counselor is that a lot of those who claim to feel happy actually feel hopeless. How could that be? Don’t people know how they feel? Actually, no. We think we know when we feel the basic emotions of joy, sadness, fear, anger, guilt, shame, helpless, hopeless and despair. But over the years, we experience our emotions incorrectly and so joy becomes hopelessness. Worse still, one emotion will trigger another, such as joy triggering hopelessness. Then when we think we are positive and happy, what others sense is our sadness and hopelessness. Want to learn more of what you communicate to others? In Georgia USA, email Lane at [email protected]