Can you appreciate a negative emotion?

I believe that keeping feelings locked up is definitely bad for our health. In fact, studies show that stress causes cancer. So it is definitely not advisable to not allow yourself an outlet - of course, it has to be an appropriate one otherwise you might end up with more problems than when you started. ;) However, I do understand what you mean. Society dictates that we hide as much of ourselves when possible so as to avoid being "different" or rude. Still, knowing when to express yourself at the right time can actually improve your relationship with others. If you know that someone can trust you with certain information, then doesn't that trust make you feel better?

hahaha! i guess i can relate. you are right about the beauty of the internet. but anyway to answer your the title of your topic, yes i can appreciate negative emotion because it makes me realize even more what positive emotion plays in my life. =)

I was always terrified of negative emotions because I was never really exposed to it growing up and when I was, it was always a 'bad' thing. Weird to say but I felt liberated when I was finally able express it. Reminds me of a quote from Walden: "We have had to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war."

I can relate to bottling up emotions, or listening to sad music to embrace those emotions. You think you can handle it alone, but the truth is that you're eventually going to need people to talk to and express those emotions. I also used to give the fake "I'm fine" smiles and put all my emotions on the back burner. Well, it caught up to me and it's been an awful mess to have to clean up. But I also always grew up on the "be strong" motto, and I've always hated it because I've never been able to express my emotions the right way. I've always been taught to toughen up and don't show your emotions. I did definitely feel like I was turning into some kind of machine; a numb, cold machine that was living a lie. Even though I've started opening up again about all the emotions I've been hiding. I have that fear; Fear that I'm going to be made fun of (because I have been), fear that I'm going to be judged, fear that I'm not going to be taken seriously, and I can relate all that to not being able to say everything that I would like to say. Like I'm being held back because of all of this.