Emotions often feel instant and uncontrollable, but research shows they are actually constructed by the brain using past experiences and physical sensations. In this article, Marietjie Strauss explores the concept of “the whoosh” — that sudden emotional surge — and explains how understanding how emotions are formed can help us slow down reactions, challenge assumptions, and respond more thoughtfully, especially in relationships.

Everything is constructed When I was eighteen, I worked as an au pair in America. One night I was sitting with friends who were endlessly entertained by my Afrikaans. “Mariki, how do you say candle in Afrikaans?” “Kers.” “How do you say flower ?” “Blom.” And then someone asked, “How do you say sleepy?” I answered. They burst into laughter. Because the word for sleepy in Afrikaans is “vaak”. You pronounce three sounds: “f” as the f in fork , “aa” as the u in duck, “k” as the ck in… well,...

Many of us don’t feel stuck because of our circumstances, but because of the stories we’ve been telling ourselves. Life can look perfectly fine on the outside, yet feel like a prison on the inside. In this video, I explore how old beliefs quietly keep us stuck — and how shifting our focus from what we want to escape to what we want to build can move us from prison to playground.