Month: September 2025

My son’s emotions are like a tornado storm. When he gets overwhelmed, he can’t think clearly, hold a conversation, or express himself calmly—screaming and the need to fight are all he can do in the moment. Only after the storm passes does he tell me, “I’m upset because I’m hungry, someone picked on me, or I didn’t get to play on the swing.” That’s when it hits me: behaviors we see can become so ingrained so easily, and changing my own reactions has been just as challenging as helping him navigate his feelings.

This post grew out of a book I was reading about Hinduism. I had been curious about how religions shaped narratives of human development, and that’s when I first came across Tridaśamukha Avalokiteśvara, the Thirteen-Faced Bodhisattva. At first, I was simply fascinated by the idea of thirteen different emotions. After all, most of us grow up believing we only have a handful—fear, joy, anger, love, hope, and grief. However, when I paused to imagine the many emotions we rarely recognize, I realized what a waste it is to overlook them. Therefore, this post is my reflection on discovering what we have not yet seen.