Author: Jonathan

Jonathan Cook is a researcher of commercial culture, specializing in immersive interviews designed to uncover the emotions, symbols, stories and rituals that drive our behavior in unexpected directions.
stirring

Stirred Up

To be in turmoil is to feel mixed up. To feel turbid is akin to being immersed in murky water filled with sediments disturbed from the below. These emotions share the metaphorical foundation… more emotion Stirred Up

in turmoil emotion

Turmoil

Turbid emotions are the result of turbulent psychological currents that stir up the muck from the bottom of the mind to muddy the mental waters. Turmoil has some share in this sense of… more emotion Turmoil

turbidity

Turbid

There are many different emotions that represent some form of confusion. Confusion, after all, is not all the same. It’s a complex range of different feelings, inherently mysterious due to its lack of… more emotion Turbid

happiness is luck

Happy

We like to think we know what happiness is. We might not have achieved it yet, but we have an idea of what being happy might look like, and build plans for how… more emotion Happy

stymied

Stymied

Frustrate is a frustrating word. It’s often a throwaway term people use to deflect inquiries into their emotions, a vague label that thwarts follow up questions. In the same manner, nobody can get… more emotion Stymied

doomed

Doom

The future is always there, some physicists say. It is as real as the present, as material as the road a mile ahead of us, inaccessible to us in the moment, but a… more emotion Doom

hatred

Hate

When we accept the fantasy that only monstrous people feel hate, we turn a blind eye to the growth of monstrosity within ourselves.

capricious

Caprice

Caprice is a reminder that we are more than our habits. We contain within us to become something more than what the algorithms of Facebook, Apple, Google, and Amazon can calculate.

mischievous

Mischievous

One of the reasons that attempts to depict emotion as something that can be objectively determined are inherently flawed is that emotions take on different meanings depending upon the perspective from which they… more emotion Mischievous

morbid

Morbid

The consistent admonitions against morbid feelings hint at a taboo against focusing on the negative aspects of life… especially death.