Thank you, Chris. I had seen "feelings wheel" listed on amazon.com, but there was no real help as to how to use one. I think many neurodiverse people (like myself, AuDHD, diagnosed at age 60) grapple with some degree of emotional blindness (aka "alexithymia.") The wheel helps get someone past the "I don't know how I feel right now."
Hi Chris! I can relate to your post. My son, who is also a writer, often replies with either “good” or “bad” when asked how his week is going. I often say “For a writer, you are not very descriptive.”
Thanks for this article, Chris! As a woman who lives with multiple chronic illnesses I fall back on those non-answers because I'm never sure how much someone really wants to know. Are they genuinely asking or is it a question out of habit? With people I KNOW are asking out of compassion and concern, I should make a more concerted effort to be more specific.
I so appreciate you writing about this. As a former therapist, I will never stop advocating for teaching emotional literacy in K-12 classrooms (radical, I know, especially in light of what’s currently happening to the Dept. of Education). Some of my most favorite feeling words include: enraged, incensed, delighted, enthusiastic, confused.
Love this! Before reading this, I would have labeled myself as feeling scared. But digging deeper, I know what I feel is guilt. I do mostly what I choose as a retired person but there’s a nagging sensation that says I should be somewhere else doing something that others expect of me. Identifying the feeling feels like progress. I’m being productive. I go to the gym. I need to let those expectations go.
It's interesting that all the comments so far are from older people (me included). I think my grown kids are more in tune with their feelings/emotions than I am as a baby boomer. No feelings expressed in my family growing up, except angry, when we did something bad. Ha!
I sometimes work backwards to figure out how I'm feeling - I start with my body sensations. I've learned over the years that I feel sadness in my chest, anxiety in my stomach, and anger through all my muscles. It gives me a starting point to figure out my more specific emotions and why I'm feeling them :)
Thank you for this. After my therapy appointment today I also realized that I don't know my emotions. So this is where I am trying to get started and so far, it helped!
Very relatable! Responding by either ''good'' or'' bad'' might stems from the fact when people ask you how you're doing, very often they're not interested in hearing the truth so it's a polite answer not a truthful one. Depends on the circumstances, of course but it quickly becomes a habit.
Thank you, Chris. I had seen "feelings wheel" listed on amazon.com, but there was no real help as to how to use one. I think many neurodiverse people (like myself, AuDHD, diagnosed at age 60) grapple with some degree of emotional blindness (aka "alexithymia.") The wheel helps get someone past the "I don't know how I feel right now."
Hi Chris! I can relate to your post. My son, who is also a writer, often replies with either “good” or “bad” when asked how his week is going. I often say “For a writer, you are not very descriptive.”
Thanks for this article, Chris! As a woman who lives with multiple chronic illnesses I fall back on those non-answers because I'm never sure how much someone really wants to know. Are they genuinely asking or is it a question out of habit? With people I KNOW are asking out of compassion and concern, I should make a more concerted effort to be more specific.
I so appreciate you writing about this. As a former therapist, I will never stop advocating for teaching emotional literacy in K-12 classrooms (radical, I know, especially in light of what’s currently happening to the Dept. of Education). Some of my most favorite feeling words include: enraged, incensed, delighted, enthusiastic, confused.
Love this! Before reading this, I would have labeled myself as feeling scared. But digging deeper, I know what I feel is guilt. I do mostly what I choose as a retired person but there’s a nagging sensation that says I should be somewhere else doing something that others expect of me. Identifying the feeling feels like progress. I’m being productive. I go to the gym. I need to let those expectations go.
It's interesting that all the comments so far are from older people (me included). I think my grown kids are more in tune with their feelings/emotions than I am as a baby boomer. No feelings expressed in my family growing up, except angry, when we did something bad. Ha!
I sometimes work backwards to figure out how I'm feeling - I start with my body sensations. I've learned over the years that I feel sadness in my chest, anxiety in my stomach, and anger through all my muscles. It gives me a starting point to figure out my more specific emotions and why I'm feeling them :)
Thank you for this. After my therapy appointment today I also realized that I don't know my emotions. So this is where I am trying to get started and so far, it helped!
Very relatable! Responding by either ''good'' or'' bad'' might stems from the fact when people ask you how you're doing, very often they're not interested in hearing the truth so it's a polite answer not a truthful one. Depends on the circumstances, of course but it quickly becomes a habit.
Brilliant and massively reassuring.
I hugely relate to your words and really enjoy your posts. Thank you!
👍🏻👌🏻🤟🏻👊🏻💪🏻🙌🏻🙏🏻💙