Our psyche is a constant process of responding to the environment. It allows us to actively and most effectively adapt to the world around us, and, accordingly, succeed in the struggle for survival. The environment is constantly changing - and in recent decades even at a terrifying speed - and in response our psyche produces reactions on the basis of which we can adapt to these changes. Mental, volitional, emotional processes - all thanks to the psyche. So, what is important, emotional processes in this regard are the first in terms of speed of occurrence and very important. If there were no emotion of fear (“horror, we need to do our feet urgently!”), then no amount of intelligence would have helped us survive. Well, and accordingly, without sympathy, attraction and love, no volitional efforts would force us to reproduce so actively. On the other hand, this fact refutes the idea of ​​the primacy and intrinsic value of emotions - they say, say what you feel, and everything will be fine. No, it won’t happen like that right away. "What do you feel?" – this is the main question, but not the last. It is followed by equally important questions – “what do you want?” and “what will you do with it?” But without the first question “how do you feel?” they are meaningless, just like the first without subsequent ones. Emotions act according to the cycle of contact developed by theorists of the Gestalt approach: 1. pre-contact 2. beginning 3. full contact 4. resolution 5. post-contact. That is: 1. an emotion has appeared (“it seems that I’m something- I feel it") 2. we realize what it is ("ahh, Semyon Semyonich, this is sadness/anger/joy") 3. we experience the emotion ("you, here you are, yes, you hear, I'm sad!" (tears, snot , handkerchiefs)) 4. relief (“well, it seems to make me feel better…”) 5. awareness, mental processing (“well, I was pretty sad, it became easier, and now it doesn’t seem like life is such a hopeless mess”) .And then a new contact begins (“oh, now I feel something again…”). So, what’s the whole point? If obstacles arise, the contact cycle does not end. So it lies unfinished in the psyche, like last year’s unfinished stool or an unfinished blouse. And the more unfinished cycles (in fact, unlived emotions, because all situations, decisions, relationships still end with emotions), the more the psyche is littered with all sorts of, excuse me, rubbish. What is special about a place that is filled with rubbish? That's right, this place usually doesn't smell very pleasant, everything there is unclear and mixed up, and also - it's impossible to put anything new there. So it turns out that the psyche, clogged with undigested residues - excuse me for another unpleasant metaphor - is like a slagged intestines, unable to digest and absorb anything useful and nutritious. If somewhere deep down in your soul there is still anger at your first bitch teacher, grief over your first romantic relationship, anger at your boyfriend who forgot his birthday a year ago, etc. and so on. - then how will there be a place in this very depth of the soul to fully experience love, joy, happiness? Of course, they will be, where would life be without happiness and joy. But just like the Christmas tree decorations in the joke, they “don’t make you happy.” That is, for some reason, they are not as intense as they could be, you have to catch them hard, and they still quickly escape. But unfinished gestalts remain, so the person suffers in a certain subdepressive state (“something is not so good, and I don’t want to do anything, how lazy I am, I need to pull myself together”). Pulling yourself together - for example, going out and having a lot of fun, drinking, shopping uncontrollably, or vice versa, working diligently and achieving all conceivable results - in this case there is little point, because it’s the same as filling up a sick intestine with vitamins (to continue my unpleasant metaphor ). A couple of molecules will still get through, and the rest will come out as dead weight. It is necessary to deal first with the most toxic wastes, secondly with how to prevent such pollution in the future, and thirdly, gradually.