Why do emotions sometimes feel random and overwhelming — and other times make perfect sense?

In this conversation, Forrest Landry maps the structural flow of emotion using a simple but powerful model: two energy channels (vertical and horizontal) that explain exactly how we move through love, fear, anger, frustration, and depression — and why grief is the path back.

Timestamps:

• 0:19 — Introduction: the five categories of emotion

• 1:06 — Why emotions have patterns (not random weather)

• 2:18 — The two channels: vertical (care → self) and horizontal (self → world)

• 4:51 — When both channels are open: the natural state of love

• 5:30 — The parent and child example: perceiving potential loss

• 6:55 — Love to fear: energy flowing into the body to enable action

• 9:55 — Fear to anger: redirecting energy into the world

• 11:29 — Understanding anger: what are they afraid of losing?

• 13:19 — Anger to frustration: when the world doesn’t respond

• 14:44 — Frustration to depression: both channels close

• 15:43 — Summary: the five emotions as channel states

• 16:28 — Grief as the unwinding process back to love

• 17:54 — Why emotions are signals of meaningfulness

• 19:01 — Making choices from love vs. unconscious reaction

• 20:00 — Speed matters: love→fear→anger happens in milliseconds

• 21:03 — Anxiety vs. fear: when you don’t know what you’re afraid of

• 22:45 — Anger→frustration→depression: too slow to notice

• 24:29 — Anger vs. passion: conscious vs. unconscious expression

• 25:18 — Extending the model: fury, envy, jealousy

• 26:33 — Why this should be taught in grade school

Get full access to Delicate Fire at delicatefire.substack.com/subscribe