It blows my mind we're able to ever coherently communicate with each other. That kind of capacity takes not only emotional intelligence, but enough self-awareness to be able to accurately describe your own feelings, inclinations, and goals. On top of that, these descriptions must be precise enough to fully explain to another human who is not you how your mental innards are doing. That can be tough, certainly—but this smart new Wheel Of Feelings chart helps describe feelings in an articulate, clear way.
English teacher Kaitlin Robbs developed the chart as a way to help her students write in more decisive language but its use expands far past those reaches. It sounds silly, but seriously, there is so much more to human emotion than basic catch-alls like "angry" or "happy" or—guhhh—"fine." The way it's organized by prongs of larger categories such as those basic catch-alls I just mentioned is hugely helpful. It better refines the exact degree of what you're feeling and what kind of perhaps mixed cocktail of several feels you might be experiencing. Again, many adult humans will be all, "I'm an adult human and I can be honest about my feelings," but can you? Is it really possible without a little more focused reflection and practice?
Imagine how advantageous this would be in not only everyday human communication but more touchy, possibly messy relationship talks? I imagine we'd end up angry a lot less. It could only inspire a more widespread empathy, right? I like to think so. And here's a color-coded version which might be easier to reference during particularly intense emotional periods:
Keep in mind our other referential options previous to the Wheel Of Feelings. Super useless stuff like:
Wannabe emoticons
If that's the actual meaning of "good" or "great" mood-wise, I don't know if I've ever experienced that once, even.
Lego faces
I'd be skeptical with a goatee, also, I suppose.
Elementary school #TBT
I don't know where to start so I guess I'll go ahead and stop now.
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