What is the Best Emotion to Experience?

As a therapist I strive to provide the best support I can for my clients. What ever journey they are taking I feel blessed to be there with them. I sit with them as they experience all the emotions one can imagine - joy, anger, hurt, acceptance, excitement, rage, love, happiness, . . .  it’s almost never ending.  But of all of those emotions I wondered what would be the best one to experience.  I thought about several positive ones such as joy, glee, happiness, and love.   But I wasn’t convinced that it was one of those. 

I searched for one that would make the most impact. I wondered if there was an emotion that we can’t live without?  As I thought of my various clients, I searched for a common emotion that helped them progress through their goals. 

Then I thought of it.  It’s the emotion we all strive for. The one that we need to move forward.  The one that tells us not to give up.  The one that keeps my clients moving along a path, sometimes slowly, sometimes backwards, but they keep moving.  It’s hope. 

Hope lets us know that for every rainbow we see there is a pot of gold if we just keep trying. That pot of gold can look different for each of us.  Maybe it’s a healthy family, stable marriage, being employed, being pain free, not feeling depressed, scared or angry.  Hope gives us the strength and drives us to move ahead. Hope is the optimism that things will get better. Hope gives us that snippet of who we can become. 

Next time you are with someone who may be struggling, feeling down, or needing guidance, help them find hope.   Some ways you can do that is to remind them to dream big, look for the positive, strive for the future, accept help, join with others that are hopeful and to not give up. 



Liz Birch is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist who provides home-based and online psychotherapy.  Her areas of expertise are in communications, relationships, stress reduction, depression, trauma and provides support to the military population and their families. She can be reached via LizBirchTherapist.com and email at LizBirchMFT@gmail.com

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