The Emotion(ing) Circuit

The Emotioning Circuit

Emotion circuits are built to have beginnings and ends.  It’s part of their design. They operate like electrical circuits.   If we have meaning-to-goal circuits of experience, then our experience of not having accomplished or achieved that goal exists as an incomplete circuit -- an incompletion.  Circuits are designed to run a course and when completed they can “renew” and begin a looping process, or cease.  Like a one-and-done. Before reaching this juncture emotioning circuits remain open until they get the chance to run the whole course.  In certain cases there’s a third potential outcome -- They can be short-circuited.  But this isn’t always a viable option,  and when it is, it tends to involve some collateral damage.  Short-circuitings aren’t “free,” they come at a cost.  Like real electric shorts, there is a correlation with fires and loss of power.  

Let’s Look At An Example Of Closing An Emotioning Circuit

Every emotion is a signal for our minds to do something that we need to do in order to “turn off the signal” of the emotion. Take a cookie away from a toddler. He feels sad. He cries and screams over the loss of the cookie. He tries to grab it back from you. You pull it away. He sits back on the floor and cries some more. Hand him the cookie. BAM giant smile on his face. No more tears!

The Circuit Experience If You DIDN’T Give Him Back The Cookie:

  • 1. Trigger →

    Cookie taken away.





  • 2. Emotion →

    The Sadness is triggered and the emotioning circuit begins. The action form available for sadness is to Retrieve, Get back what was Lost, but failing to achieve that, there will be “Missing” or miserating over what’s been Lost indefinitely and the the only option available is for the child to Seek Comfort / Let go.

  • 3. Feeling States →

    The feeling states begin moving through the circuit to move his body to take a specific action.




  • 4. His Behavior/Action →

    (The behavior or action chosen by his system - remember the sadness "program" is running in the background). He will reach for the cookie in your hand to Retrieve what was taken from him. If he accomplishes this, this would complete the circuit.


  • 5. Action Form Is Blocked →

    You withdrew your hand so he is not able to Retrieve the cookie so he MUST move to the next action form available to complete the circuit  — the feeling states will aid in helping him accomplish this. He begins to “grieve” (cry/loudly exclaim).


  • EMOTIONING CIRCUIT "INCOMPLETE"

    If the situation were to end here, he might cry for a while, and this emotional circuit would never be "shut down". Meaning, that the Sadness emotion would still be running in the background.


In a child’s case, if the situation were to end at Step 5, he may get distracted easily and forget about the cookie incident.

The Circuit Experience If You DID Give Him Back The Cookie:

  • 1. Trigger →

    Cookie taken away.





  • 2. Emotion →

    The Sadness is triggered and the emotioning circuit begins. The action form available for sadness is to Retrieve, Get back what was Lost, but failing to achieve that, there will be “Missing” or miserating over what’s been Lost indefinitely and the the only option available is for the child to Seek Comfort / Let go.

  • 3. Feeling States →

    The feeling states begin moving through the circuit to move his body to take a specific action.




  • 4. His Behavior/Action →

    (The behavior or action chosen by his system - remember the sadness "program" is running in the background). He will reach for the cookie in your hand to Retrieve what was taken from him. If he accomplishes this, this would complete the circuit.


  • 5. Action Form ALLOWED →

    You allow him to retrieve the cookie from your hand so he is able to Retrieve it.




  • EMOTIONING CIRCUIT "COMPLETE"

    Because he was able to complete the action, the feeling states move all the way to completion through the circuit, shutting off the Sadness program that was running in the background.



In the case of an adult with more capacity for memory and thinking, this might play out differently:

Let’s say an adult has something taken away from them, e.g. their business is failing (loss of a life dream). Without the ability to get it back on track and with bankruptcy looming, they find themselves thinking about it and miserating over it for months. As is often the case, they may sink into a depression because the Sadness program has been running in the background for months on end, and is folded into a new Ambivalence Profile that includes the emotion of Shame that they couldn’t accomplish their goals, and the Fear of providing for themselves or being unable to pay their team.