A young attractive girl stood in the middle of a long suspension bridge that swayed somewhat precariously above a very deep ravine. During the course of the morning many young men crossed the bridge and most of them spoke to the young lady.

She of all things was conducting a survey and gave the opportunity for any of the young men she interviewed to phone her later for more information about he survey. Many did. But why?

The same young lady went and stood in the middle of another foot bridge which was a solid safe structure, just some 10 feet from the ground. She once again conducted her survey, during which she invited any of the young men to phone her later about further aspects of the survey.

Some did, but not near as many as those who met her on the suspension bridge, even though the numbers she interviewed were almost the same on each bridge. Why the difference?

What was it about the young men on the suspension bridge that caused so many of them to contact the young girl later. Before you read, have a guess. Well, the reason put forward is meant to help us understand something about our emotions.

You see, it is understood from the "experiment" that the men crossing the shaky, frightening bridge would be experiencing 'emotional arousal' (probably some sense of fear, anxiety and insecurity).

When they met the girl they were already 'aroused' - and in this arousal state, caused by their experience of the bridge, the 'arousal' feelings in the presence of the young girl became "sexualized" and they felt more attracted to her then the young men on the safer bridge.

This suggests that aroused feelings create similar physiological symptoms regardless of their cause. Does that mean our bodies can move into a state of 'arousal' in which many of the symptoms are simply 'arousal reactions' and we then describe them as fear, anxiety, lust and so on.

It is has been shown that when the body has no 'arousal manifestations', such as faster heart beat, sweating, change in body temperature - then emotions and feelings are absent.

Certain drugs can so affect the emotional arousal triggers in the brain that people cease to have any emotions whatsoever. Conversely other drugs produce wild, frenzied and ecstatic states which literally put the person out of control.

This tells us that emotions are body-brain events. Thoughts are mind events.

Which comes first? Do our thoughts "trigger" our emotions, or do our emotions "trigger" our thoughts? Do we become afraid only when our bodies become 'aroused'. If we don't see a situation as threatening, we don't feel afraid.

Fast driving is dangerous but we usually don't feel afraid until a close shave of some sort shocks our system. That sudden shock then creates fear and we may slow down for a long time.

We don't have any emotions or feelings until our bodies become aroused. You can't "think" emotions but your thinking can trigger many emotions. Unless your body responds physiologically, your emotions and feelings cannot be experienced.

Your mind might recall an emotion in your mind, but only your body can experience it as an actual event.

Next time you experience a deep emotion, observe what is happening within your body, and try and understand why you give feelings and emotions all those different "labels".