Four Emotions?

So...
It turns out that we can all only ever experience four biologically based human emotions:
Happy
Sad
Afraid/Surprised
Angry/Disgusted

Yup.

So says the research from the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Glasgow.
Apparently, where now there are four, there used to be six - namely:
Happy
Sad
Afraid
Surprised
Angry
Disgusted

And now, as I said, there are four.

There's no cause for undue alarm - two weren't murdered or anything. They were just clubbed together with others. So, for instance, the researchers found that in the early stages of the emotions, anger and disgust looked very similar in that they shared a wrinkled nose, as did surprise and fear, which shared raised eyebrows. I don't know about you, but my eyebrows are pretty raised at the moment, and my nose too - quite wrinkled.  Very wrinkled in fact. Must be too much sun. In this sun-less island. Yeah.
Anyway, so it was found that it was only in later stages - as the feelings took hold - that our faces showed a distinction between these two sets of emotions, suggesting, the researchers say, that the distinction between anger and disgust and between surprise and fear, is socially, not biologically based.

Hmm...
Don't know if I can really get my head around that.
Because I'm not entirely sure - as bioligical creatures in a social world - how to disaggregate. How do you disaggregate?

Notwithstanding all that, though...
Four emotions? Or even six? Six?
Huh? How's it even possible to distill the wide spectrum of human emotion into six categories?
Take me, for example. The day I display one of these above six emotions is sort of a highly anomolous 'boring-day-in-the-life-of...'
Happy? I'm rarely "happy." Ecstatic, yes. Happy, no.
Anger? Rarely. Irritation, yes. Lots. But raise the stakes on irritation and it's not anger, see, no, nothing so mild - it's outrage.

Boredom? How about boredom? I mean I don't know about you, but I live in a state of perpetual boredom.
And what of the others?
How about contempt?
Wonder?
Anxiety? Terror? Desire? Despair? Joy? Anticipation?
And LOVE? The greatest emotion of all. What of Love?

Aha.

And therein, I rest my case. For nothing trumps love. Nor ever will.

But maybe we, or they rather - the clever neuroscience and psychology researchers - pare things down - they distil - in order to come up with a sort of middle-of-the-road scenario, to simplify an already overcomplicated world. Averages are good. Averages are normal. And normal is good. And beautiful. And predictable. Like the bell curve.

The problem with people like me, I guess, is that I don't really fit the bell curve; I'm hanging off it.
I don't do averages. Or normal. Or beautiful. Or predictable.
It's just the way I was made.
And, so, I'm guessing, was the creator of the Emoji.
I mean, have you ever gone through the whole range of those tiny round yellow faces? I have. There's 2,666 of them.
Yup.
So, imagine telling this creator person that 2,662 of his (or her) lovely little pictographic expressions are basically redundant? That really only 4 exist (research says) - the happy face, the sad face, the angry face and the afraid face...
Imagine that! I'm not a betting person, but if I was, I'm betting that the reaction you'd get wouldnt exactly be contained within four emotions...
So yeah.
I guess, he (or she) isn't a big believer of the 4-emotion theory either.
Like me.
And Stir-fried Tofu.
We are in the same bucket, emoji-maker, me, and stir-fried tofu.
The stuff of extremes. Yeah.

Here's what you need:

• 2 x 150g packs tofu pieces
• 1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
• 140g soya bean
• 2 heads pak choi, quartered
• Handful, chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
• 1 bunch spring onions, sliced
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 ½ tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 whole dried red chillis
• 25g roasted cashew nuts

Here's how you do it:

Heat the oil in a non-stick wok. Add the broccoli, then fry on a high heat for 5 minutes or until just tender, adding a little water as necessary. Add the garlic and chilli, fry for 1 minute, then toss through the spring onions, soya beans, mushrooms, pak choi and tofu. Stir-fry for a few minutes. Add the chillies, hoisin and soy sauces. Drizzle the nuts on top for that flavour and crunch.

Serve with steamed rice.

And prepare to be many things.

Many hyperbolic things. #no4emotionbs.

10 mins to prep. 10 mins to cook. And so, so good. 

How can that just make you happy?

Not bell-curve material, this. Try it and let me know!  Don't worry, if you don't like it, I won't be "angry."