So, did you enjoy your first emotion safari? Hopefully, you spotted a couple of the Big Five and became a little more aware of what they look like.

A few more safaris like this and you’ll be spotting them automatically in daily life before they can get close enough to do any real damage. And that’s a very cool skill to have!

Today, we’ll dig a little deeper into the nature of these abstract creatures. After all, any safari becomes more fun if you know a bit more about the creatures you’re likely to see 🙂 

Craving

Craving’s main job is to ensure that you have everything you need. This was a very difficult job for the first 99.9% of human history. But over the last century or two, it got real easy real quick. 

Indeed, most of us very rarely experience genuine material lack. Craving has therefore shifted its focus to any kind of emotional pain that can be soothed with a pleasurable shot of endorphins.

In a sense, Craving today is very much like an overly energetic young dog. Very eager to please and protect its master, but so much so that it becomes totally overbearing. Luckily, like any young dog, it can be trained. 

A pack of these creatures is called an Addiction. If you see such a pack of Cravings, run the other way! When Cravings gang up like this, they turn into wild dogs that can destroy a life in no time. 

Ego

Ego is the deep human desire to be liked and respected by the tribe. For the first 99.9% of human history, this was critical for survival. But today, it has become a misplaced fear of failure that holds all too many people back. 

This creature is much like a helicopter mom. It desperately wants you to stand out, but never wants you to get hurt. Luckily, Ego can be taught that any true success is built on the back of countless failures. 

A flock of Egos is called a poor self-image. This flock will protect you so well that you never go anywhere. And the resulting lack of accomplishment will make them even more overprotective. If you’re ever taken in by this flock, you must escape by any means necessary. 

Sloth

Sloth’s main function is to conserve energy – something that was very useful for the first 99.9% of human history when food was hard to come by. But today, our supermarkets are packed with cheap calories, and most jobs don’t even require us to expend much energy. 

These creatures feed on positive feedback. If you follow the typical procrastinate-until-forced-into-action-by-stress-and-anxiety pattern of work, Sloth will feel vindicated and grow larger.

The only way to tame your Sloth is to build a positive relationship with your work. This is critical in today’s competitive market with all its mechanisms for winners to win even more.

Those dragging along huge overfed Sloths stand no chance against those who have slimmed their Sloths down to cute little pets just big enough to protect them from burnout. 

Frustration

Frustration’s job is to motivate you to fix things that are not to your liking. In the old days, this could be done with a big wooden club, but today’s problems are far too sophisticated for such blunt tools. 

Indeed, if there’s one emotion that truly embodies the image of a caveman stuck in the future, it’s Frustration. This dumb creature sees complex problems all around it, most of which are far outside its reach, but still wants to smack all of them with its primitive wooden club. 

When Frustration grows too large, it can morph into a much more dangerous creature called Anger. This creature must be put down. If not, it might grow into something truly hideous called Hatred. 

For this reason, we mush be vigilant when it comes to frustration. It’s caveman brain is rather slow, but, with enough repetition, it can learn to use more sophisticated tools than its trusty old club. 

Worry

Our last creature is the most evolved on this list. Indeed, Worry has the ability to fly off into the future, reporting back on dangers before they even arrive. For 99.9% of human history, this was an awesome survival mechanism. 

Unfortunately, the future has become a lot more complex than it once was. Worry therefore often gets lost on its travels, bringing back false intelligence.

Today’s information overload can even cause this formerly sophisticated creature to start frantically multiplying in an attempt to keep up. The resulting swarm of Worry, called Anxiety, then tries to fly off into all futures at once. When such a swarm returns, all scared and confused, it can suck all the mental energy right out of you. 

Luckily, this creature can also be trained to only explore useful futures. You’re just looking for trouble if you let your Worry explore futures you can do nothing about or futures that are highly unlikely.

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So, that was my little field guide on the Big Five. Keep this in mind when you next encounter one of these creatures and see what happens 🙂

See you tomorrow when we wrap up the topic of the emotion safari.