Honest Blips of Light

There is now a machine that can be used to show the way that emotions manifest in your brain. When you feel pleasure, certain parts light up. When you feel sadness or unhappiness, other parts light up. This machine is being used in a lot of neural mapping, though I think the applications go a lot farther than that. Being able to display the emotions you are actually feeling could create a different kind of communication, both with others and with ourselves.

First of all, even though we are  intelligent people, a lot of us have trouble expressing to others how they are making us feel. Some things just aren't polite. Sometimes we don't want to hurt other people's feelings. Sometimes we just don't believe they could understand what we are going through. But what if they could? What if we had a device that could display our emotions for us? That way the person who talks about boring crap could know that we're bored with them and maybe they wouldn't keep bothering us with stories about their grandkids. Maybe the person who thinks we're so 'into them' would see that we're mostly just annoyed and uncomfortable when they're around. Maybe the person who thinks we never see them at all would realize how happy we get when they walk into the room.

Now, if you're thinking 'you could just TELL them,' keep in mind that that isn't always so simple. Sometimes you can tell someone the truth and they won't believe you. Sometimes you can give every indication that they are annoying you and they're so self-centered, they just don't see it. Sometimes, you don't even see it. After all, we're not always that forthcoming with our own desires.

A lot of people have a conflict between who they are and who they think they SHOULD be. They think they SHOULD like healthy food, even though they are completely unhappy when they eat it. They think they SHOULD NOT watch My Little Pony, even though the show fills them with joy. They think they SHOULD have a career, even though they really just want to stay home and do as little as possible. The person they truly are is always at odds with the person they're trying to be. The end result is someone who is always unhappy, even if they accomplish all the goals they think they SHOULD accomplish.

And no, I'm not saying you shouldn't work and shouldn't clean the house just because you don't want to. I'm saying that maybe accepting the fact that you're doing stuff you would rather not be doing (but are still required to do) would go a long way toward you seeking out other activities that DO make you happy. If you do those as well as the stuff required of you, your life might get a little nicer.

I realize this kind of emotional honesty would probably end a lot of relationships. Most folks would probably decide that it's uncomfortable to be in a house with someone who hates the sight of them. I'm okay with this destroying relationships. If someone IS making you so miserable that you fantasize about destroying those bones behind your ears so that you NEVER have to hear their voice again, you probably SHOULD NOT be married to them. Why not just let the truth be known, end things, and try to go find some happiness?