Lust

Great title right? 

It’s not just bait. 

Jaak Panksepp one of the world most sited and respected neuroscientists states that there are 7 basic emotions. 

Rage 

Fear 

Grief/ panic 

Seeking 

Play 

Care 

Lust 

When I was studying his work just seeing this list melted my brain a little. 

You can get a long way towards understanding yourself, others, and many of the challenges we face as humans just by digging into each one of these.

Each has been demonised and weaponised.

We’ve all been told we are wrong for experiencing them at times. 

That we are too much of one. Not enough of another. 

At no point are we told,

By the way. 

These are in you. 

These are the core of what it means to be human.

Your health, happiness, relationships and success are very much determined by your ability to integrate them. 

Tiredness 

Hunger 

Thirst 

Pain 

These are perhaps more accepted states and our skill in working with them goes a long way towards determining our health.

Tiredness ignored becomes exhaustion but drives all sorts of other behaviours along the way. 

Hunger and thirst ignored becomes craving and again drives all sorts of problems.

Each leading to incorrect learning about who and what we are. 

Each listened to, learned from and understood allows us to balance our energy and serve our bodies needs. 

Take play for example 

Stuart Brown MD play researcher, found that prisoners in maximum security prisons showed a very high correlation with being prevented from physical play during childhood. 

Play is literally what allow us to integrate our rage, anger, frustration.

The truth is, rage is not bad, good, right or wrong. There are merely skilful and unskilful applications of something that is an undeniable part of us in the same way tiredness is or that feeling you get before you need to pee. 

If normal feelings are made wrong in childhood… well you can see where guilt and shame come in and why we have a hard time moving past the unskilful use of these things in adulthood. 

The guilt and shame cause us to hide them, bury them and as a result be less in control of them. 

If we expose those ways we consistently experience anger today, trap them on paper, they can often be removed quickly.

We can do this simply by reflecting on why we’re angry, how we demonstrate that anger and the consequences of it. 

Then we can PLAY with other possible approaches to the situation. Often the more playful the better. 

The suppression of play (this is SERIOUS, Behave young man/lady) is what often keeps us trapped in anger. 

We have built into us the tools to thrive. It is only denial of, shaming and blaming of that prevent us from skilful integration. 

Why not take each of these out for a spin? 

What do they mean and not mean? 

What would constitute skilful and unskilful use? (In your life)