How are you feeling today?

I felt like drawing a flower today as a mash-up of a few emotion models: Plutchik’s theory and the Feelings Wheel. Mine has just four colours: red (mad), blue (sad), green (calm), and yellow (happy). From there, and I hope with a little imagination, the petals extend, softening in intensity and gradually blending into their neighbouring colours.

Emotions aren’t fixed or isolated; they shift, merge, and move. One of the capacities we can grow over time and through adult development stages, is the ability to hold contrasting emotions at once, without being thrown into reactivity. To be both/and, and still function. For example: feeling disillusioned and intrigued, irritated and calm, hopeful and resigned.

When you look at the flower drawing, what feels most true for you right now? Then see what nuance or intensity might sit just beyond that first word.

The more awareness you have of your emotions in the moment, the more you can shift from reacting to responding.

And the more language you have for your feelings, the more you support your brain to regulate which in turn may free up space for whatever matters for you: thinking clearly, daydreaming, being present.

You might spot a little bumblebee on the flower too. Did you? Just a bit of fun (isn’t any image better with a bumblebee?) and a gentle reminder that emotions can be quite “contagious”. (Our minds are not contained within our skin… Me + We = MWE). We shape and are shaped by those around us.

Want to go deeper? Try exploring the Feelings Wheel or the How We Feel app (from makers of the Mood Meter). They’re helpful tools for expanding emotional vocabulary.

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References

Russell, J. A. (1980). A circumplex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(6), 1161–1178. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0077714

Plutchik, R. (1980). Emotion: A psychoevolutionary synthesis. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Glennon, G. (n.d.). The Feelings Wheel. Retrieved from https://feelingswheel.com/

Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. (n.d.). How We Feel app. Retrieved from https://www.howwefeel.org/