Although the core precipitant of an emotion is a need, and meeting the need often requires some form of action, direct efforts to meet the need triggering an emotional experience are often difficult. Contextual and other factors often preclude immediate action to meet a need; it is particularly true that in the short term needs are often not met. Because individuals cannot always engage promptly in action that addresses the precipitating need, they engage in other actions that perhaps lessen the intensity of their emotional state (Larsen, 2000) or provide some alternative source of reward. Some of those strategies are adaptive, in the sense that they do not undermine pursuit of longer-term goals (Davidson, 2003). For example, when distressed, cognitive review of one's situation to evaluate the precipitant of the distress differently or to develop a strategy to address the precipitant at a later time, physical activities such as taking walks or exercising, meditation, “counting one's blessings,” and many other strategies are likely consistent with individuals’ longer-term goals (Linehan, 1993). For intense attraction or sexual needs, perhaps cognitive mediation to
