“When we grant privilege to happiness, however, we fail to recognize that all emotions are giving us information about our needs. It’s common to see attempts by individuals and even social science communities to disregard or minimize emotions. However, emotions are an integral part of our behavioral and cognitive processes. Rather than avoiding, suppressing, or being overwhelmed by emotional states perceived as negative, we must seek to understand them. That way, we can use our emotions to better understand our needs, which in turn helps us strengthen our bonded relationships.”