All humans are emotional. But sometimes we are unable to identify what emotion we feel. The Emotion Wheel can help us understand and name our emotional response to things we are experiencing. The Emotion Wheel breaks down basic emotions and their polar opposites. For example, look at the wheel. You can see that joy is the opposite of sadness, anger the opposite of fear.
The wheel also organizes emotions by intensity, with more intense feelings towards the center: terror is a strong emotion, fear is less strong, and apprehension is even less strong.
The Emotion Wheel also shows how combining emotions leads to other emotions, shown at the outside ring of the wheel. For example, serenity and acceptance is felt as love.
Of course, this wheel is a simplified version of our emotions and if you want to see examples with more emotions, look in the Resource section. But the Emotion Wheel is a useful tool for discussion and exploration of your emotions.
1. Think of a strong emotion you felt some time today, or in the last few days. Try to identify it. Maybe it was rage or anger, or joy or admiration.
2. Now, consider what happened right before you felt that emotion? Maybe someone yelled at you. Maybe you witnesses someone being kind to a child.
3. Think about how your body reacted. Did your stomach muscles tense? Did you feel tears in your eyes? Did you clench your fists? Maybe suddenly you relaxed, or got sleepy, or felt jumpy.
Paying attention to your emotions and identifying them can help you not only understand yourself, but also help you explain your feelings to others. Noticing an emotion, you can think about the triggers and ways to replace negative emotions with positive emotions, or very intense emotions with those that are less intense.
In the box below, write about an emotion you want to share with your family. Describe the setting (where it happened, who was there.) Describe the event. Explain the emotion you felt and whether it was near the center of the Emotion Wheel (most intense) or nearer the edge (less intense.) What did it feel like in your body? How did it change later, after you had time to think more about it?
Here is an example: At school today, when I saw a teacher yell at a kid for getting out of their seat, I was upset. He was getting up to help his friend who was being bullied by Brian (the bully that attacked me after school.) I was angry with the teacher, and with the rules, and that the teacher wasn’t helping the kid being bullied. It was intense, but mixed. At the same time I felt admiration for my friend, anger at the teacher and the bully, and compassion for the student being bullied.
Lesson: 7 min:1 mid:2 max:2
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| Submitted by | Emotion to share | Date Created |