Why this idea means business : We introduce you to Emotional Eddy. Learn what the emotional part of your brain does for you. Read this to learn how and when you stir your emotions.
How are you feeling right now? Happy? Sad? Somewhere in between?
You’ll be feeling something though, right? That’s your brain’s limbic system in action.
It’s in the middle part of your brain, and it’s where your inner Emotional Eddy lives.
We created this brainpower character to help bring to life what our emotional brains do for us.
Meet Emotional Eddy
The emotional part of your brain carries out many vital functions. Without it, you’d feel nothing and be no more alive than your average AI bot.
It processes all the information your senses provide (in the thalamus). So, Emotional Eddy manages what you see, hear, touch, taste and smell.
It handles your physiological reactions like hunger, thirst and body temperature (in the hypothalamus). i.e. your basic physical needs.
It’s where you make and access memories (in the hippocampus). Emotional Eddy handles what you can (and can’t) remember.
And it’s the part of your brain that kicks in when your instincts tell you there’s something to be afraid of (the amygdala). If you’re in danger, Instinctive Izzy and Emotional Eddy work together to rescue you.
Emotional Eddy’s story
Emotional Eddy manages how you feel about, well, everything.
They make you laugh. They make you cry. Emotional Eddy makes your heart race, and they’re there for all life’s meaningful moments. They’re your loving and empathetic side. They help you connect with others (romantically, socially or as a family) and get full enjoyment out of life.
Emotional Eddy looks after all the things that you care about.
They’re also your artistic side. Emotional Eddy’s in charge when you need to create things. They also look after your sense of humour. Your sense of play and having fun. Your love of feeling alive and inspired. Emotional Eddy looks after all these life-affirming things for you.
Imagine Michelangelo, Billy Connolly and Ma Larkin all rolled into one vibrant and vivacious bundle of neurons and neurotransmitters in the middle of your brain. If that leaves you feeling a little overwhelmed, blame Emotional Eddy. They do everything wholeheartedly or not at all.
Goals
Emotional Eddy’s ultimate goal is your happiness. They’re constantly looking out for people, places and things that will put a smile on your face. That will satisfy your desires and give you pleasure.
You know Emotional Eddy’s in charge when you feel yourself ready to jump for joy.
Much of that happiness comes from connecting with others. Showing and sharing our emotions helps us form social bonds, build friendships and family ties, and attract partners.
We laugh and cry together, and those shared emotions help us feel connected. Emotional Eddy releases feel-good hormones like oxytocin to encourage this bonding process.
Emotional Eddy also drives us to seek out experiences where we can feel more of our emotions. Watching funny (or scary) movies. Going to social events where we get the thrill of meeting new people. Emotional Eddy also encourages us to seek out bigger thrills like jumping out of aeroplanes or exploring remote destinations. Enjoying the rollercoaster of these different life experiences is a core part of what Emotional Eddy does for us.
Emotional Eddy also takes over when we need to create new experiences and events for ourselves. Emotions are the source of all art. Paintings, music, literature, comedy and more. All are driven by emotions. Our memories (part of our limbic system, remember?) give us the raw ideas and inspiration we need to be more innovative. To be more creative.
Emotional Eddy’s real goal is to help us find and enjoy all the good stuff in life.
Summary of Emotional Eddy’s key goals
- Happiness
- Connections
- Experiences
- Creativity
Habits
Emotional Eddy also controls some of our habits, though they usually let Instinctive Izzy do most of the hard work on those.
Eddy drives us to constantly seek out novelty, for example. Novelty brings surprise, and surprise is an emotion that thrills us.
Emotional Eddy likes thrills because thrills make us feel excited. And excitement is good for us.
Emotional Eddy also likes drama. A good story, a challenge, something to fight for.
That might bring some ups and downs with it, but Emotional Eddy knows a good story usually has a happy ending. And that’s what Emotional Eddy wants for us.
They’re also the part of our brain that’s most likely to be open-minded. Emotional Eddy craves new inputs and experiences, as these are all grist for our emotional mill. So, they make us say “yes” to new things, to experimenting and testing and doing stuff just for the heck of it. Better to regret doing something than to regret not having given it a go at all, they’ll say.
Nowhere is that truer than when it comes to romance. Emotional Eddy decides who we find attractive. They also try to make us more attractive to our prospective partners, though how well they do that varies from person to person. But Emotional Eddy’s view is that, as the famous saying goes, it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.
Summary of Emotional Eddy’s key habits
- Novelty
- Drama
- Open-mindedness
- Romance
Pains
However, for all the good stuff Emotional Eddy does for us, they’re not without their faults. There are always downs to every up in life.
For example, details aren’t their thing. When you roll your eyes at that complicated business plan or insanely boring tax return, that’s Emotional Eddy getting ready to throw a tantrum.
All the dull and mundane (but necessary) things you need to do to get through life, Emotional Eddy palms off to the Logical Lou part of your brain. Meanwhile, Eddy will go and sulk in the corner.
For similar reasons, Emotional Eddy isn’t a big fan of routines. Doing the same thing over and over kills their imaginative spirit. It robs them of the novelty and excitement they crave because it’s all so predictable. So they (and we) usually get little joy from following routines.
Even more than that though, is their aversion to systems. Emotional Eddy is the independent and creative part of your brain. Being part of a system that tells you what to do, that sets rules for how you behave, makes Eddy feel frustrated. Angry, even. Rebellious.
But most of all, Emotional Eddy’s biggest pain is boredom. They crave excitement. Thrills. A lack of new experiences and a sedate life of doing the same thing over and over leaves Eddy feeling down in the dumps. It’s fair to say the Emotional Eddy part of our brain would never make a good accountant.
Summary of Emotional Eddy’s pains
- Details
- Routines
- Systems
- Boredom
Key influences
Unsurprisingly, other people are one of the biggest influences on Eddy’s emotional state. They’re in charge of how we connect with others, after all.
So, Eddy helps us judge what others say and do. They decide if people are good (and should be supported) or bad (and should be challenged).
But it’s not just other people; it’s also the situations in which you encounter those other people. Emotional Eddy is very sensitive to context.
They know that when you go to a comedy gig and other people laugh, it’s good for your health (physical and mental) to laugh out loud, too. But they also know that if you go to a funeral, crying and sharing your sadness is a more appropriate response. Emotional Eddy reads the room and makes sure you react in the right way.
They can do this as they understand the meaning of the culture around you. Your family values. Your work expectations. What goes on in your neighbourhood. What you see on TV and read online. Emotional Eddy is sensitive to the impact of cultural events. They persuade you to go to art galleries and museums to open your mind. To try new music and new books to see how they make you feel.
These are all learned experiences through your life because Emotional Eddy manages the part of your brain that controls your memories. They’re not always perfect at it, but without their support, you’d have to keep learning everything from scratch. That would be impractical. Instead, Eddy helps you remember that you know that face, that you’ve heard that tune before and that you like that smell and taste.
Summary of Emotional Eddy’s key influences
- Other people
- Situations
- Culture
- Memories
Online activities
Emotional Eddy loves the rush you can get from online experiences. They love interacting with people on social media, sharing stories and gossip. Eddy loves reading about what other people have got up to, and they’re who make you like videos of funny cats and cute babies.
They’re also in charge when you find yourself binge-watching a series. When something dramatic happens, or you’re left with a cliffhanger, and you feel compelled to keep watching, that’s Emotional Eddy craving their next excitement hit.
Music streaming services like Spotify were also tailor-made for the Emotional Eddy part of our brains. “Mood” music is designed to influence your emotions. To get you excited and energised before going on a big night out. Or to chill you out and calm you down after a tough day. Music streaming is a shortcut to help you feel your emotions, and Eddy loves that.
Emotional Eddy is also in charge if you create anything online. If you use graphic design tools, for example, they’re the part of your brain that helps you imagine what your logo, icons or illustrations might look like. They’re the part of the brain that takes you into Photoshop to change the mood of that photo so that you feel better about it. Emotional Eddy helps you be more creative online.
Summary of Emotional Eddy’s online activities
- Social media
- Binge watching
- Music streaming
- Creative tools
Offline activities
When not online, Emotional Eddy drives your impact on others. Everyone has some extroversion in them, though for some, it comes naturally, while others have to work at it.
Eddy takes over when you need to stand up and make that speech. When you need to go into that networking meeting and meet new people. They make you speak up when someone asks for questions or ideas.
Emotional Eddy is also the part of your brain that helps you explore the world around you.
It’s their open-mindedness and desire for novelty that encourages you to travel. To try new foods. To meet new people. Emotional Eddy feels that these are all great ways for you to broaden your mind and get more enjoyment out of life.
This also means they’re the part of the brain that encourages you to experiment. To take more risks. They’re your impulsive side that rarely thinks about consequences. They seek thrills and pleasures now because they know these things are good for your ongoing mental health.
This is the essence of what Emotional Eddy is about. They encourage you to live your life to the fullest. To sense things, and feel things, and play with things. Life’s there to be lived, and Eddy is there to make sure you enjoy it.
Summary of Emotional Eddy’s offline activities
- Extroversion
- Exploring
- Experimenting
- Enjoying
Conclusion - Emotional Eddy - The artist who makes life worth living
We all have our own inner version of Emotional Eddy, even though we don’t always feel the same emotions at the same time. But it’s our emotions that help us connect with others and seek out the people, places and things that make us happy.
They’re how we “feel” our way through our lives. They’re what gives life its ups and downs and what makes us more human.
So, trust Emotional Eddy to help you seek out art. Culture. Travel and new experiences. To look after you through the good times and the bad times. To make you feel like, well, you.
Sure, they might occasionally get it wrong. But that’s OK. Nobody’s perfect. And to be honest, perfect is kinda boring anyway. It’s the good AND bad in our experiences that make us who we are. Emotional Eddy is your partner in crime through all of these. No matter what happens, they’ve got you, and you have to love that!
Check out our how to use emotions in creativity article for more on this. Or get in touch if you need help getting more out of your own inner Emotional Eddy.
Photo credits
Happy woman : Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
Heart Button : Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Heart graffiti : Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Bored in front of computer : Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash
Hands : Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
Netflix : Photo by Kon Karampelas on Unsplash
Two women clinking wine glasses together : Photo by Zan on Unsplash
