In surveys taken by 7,000 people over five years, Brown and her team found that on average people can identify only three emotions: happiness, sadness and anger. Brown names 87 emotions in her new book the Atlas of the Heart. How many emotions are you feeling lately?
I recently shared Brown’s work in a workshop. One of the participants, father of two teenage boys, identified the four emotions of teenage boys as “happy, mad, sad and hungry”. We all laughed but we also agreed that our emotional vocabulary can at times be quite limited.
Do you think the limitations of our language on emotions limits our ability to communicate and connect?
Psychologist Robert Plutchik identified 8 basic emotions: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, anticipation, anger, and disgust. His interactive Wheel of Emotions is a powerful tool for exploring our emotions.
Take for example the emotion of “fear”, an emotion we hear in the news quite frequently lately. You simply click on the green section where fear is noted and the tool brings you to a new page where you can explore the dimensions of that emotion. Each emotion gives you insights on similar words, typical sensations, what the emotion is telling you and how the emotion can help you.
Clicking on Fear revealed: Similar words Stressed, Scared. Typical sensations: Agitated. What is Fear telling you? Something I care about is at risk. How can Fear help you? Protect what we care about
The wheel also has suggestions on how to change the intensity of the emotion. Are you slipping into fight, flight or freeze? Adjusting intensity and being empowered with language can often redirect our responses and reactions.
The interactive wheel makes naming your emotions more dynamic and gives clarity to the range of our emotions that can at times be mysterious and overwhelming. This tool invites us to be an explorer of our own emotions.
Whether you are feeling overwhelmed by your emotions, curious about what it is you are feeling, or just intrigued by the concept of expanding your emotional literacy, this tool is helpful.
Take a moment this week to record what you are feeling. Pay attention to the intensity. Share what you are feeling with others. Emotions connect us, they bring us closer, they allow us to have more empathy and sympathy to friends, neighbors, and strangers near and far.
