Emotion of the day

[Heather Shay]

EMOTION WHEEL 

Fear To Courage: How To Use The Emotion Wheel To Transform Your Feelings

Sonia McDonald

Global Keynote Speaker | Award Winning Author | CEO & founder - LeadershipHQ & Outstanding Leadership Awards | Leadership & Culture Crusader

Published Dec 7, 2022

+ Follow

Do you ever feel like you're stuck in a rut? Like you can't seem to shake the feeling of fear or anxiety that's been holding you back for months or even years? Let me let you in on a little secret. Psst. We all feel that way from time to time. It's only human, after all.

As humans, we experience a wide variety of emotions every single day. According to research by Greater Good Science Center faculty director Dacher Keltner, there are as many as 27 categories of emotions that all blend to create a human experience!

Trying to make sense of these feelings can be challenging. But understanding your emotions is key to finding the courage to move forward in life.

That's where the emotion wheel comes in. This simple tool was developed by Dr Robert Plutchik. It provides an easy way to develop an understanding and awareness of our feelings and emotions.

Let's discuss how to use the emotion wheel to understand your feelings, move from fear to courage and make decisions that align with your values while living a more meaningful life.

How To Understand The Emotion Wheel

https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/D4D12AQFO8BZXwMChaQ/article-inline_image-shrink_1500_2232/0/1670396068762?e=1710374400&v=beta&t=wJLtsTAsjg2DkXOQpfbCNjDKH62zP7Nizv6lv2YJ3iU The Emotion Wheel

The Emotion Wheel - Source.

According to the emotion wheel created by Dr Robert Plutchik, there are eight basic emotions: anger, disgust, anticipation, joy, fear, sadness, surprise, and trust.

Dr Plutchik also identified opposite pairs of emotions, which can help us to understand the relationship between different feelings and make sense of our reactive responses.

These core feelings can be further broken down into secondary emotions, allowing us to further understand the complexities of our feelings.

The opposite pairs are:

●     Anger - Fear

●     Joy - Sadness

●     Trust - Disgust

●     Anticipation - Surprise

In understanding how these opposite emotion pairings work together, we can begin to make sense of our inner world. 

By understanding the nuances of our emotions and recognising where we fall on the emotion wheel, we can better decide how we want to respond or act in any given situation.

For example:

●     Fear can be broken down into scaredness, weakness, or nervousness

●     Anger can be further explored as being hostile, aggressive, or frustrated

3 Components Of The Emotion Wheel

There are three different components of the emotion wheel, they include :

Colours: Each emotion is associated with a different colour on the wheel. This helps to quickly associate an emotion with its core feeling and understanding. As the intensity of each emotion increases, so does the colour on the emotion wheel.

Layers: Each emotion is broken down into a spectrum of intensities, with the understanding that these emotions can be felt at different levels in different situations.

Relations: Understanding the relationship between emotions is key to controlling our responses and reactions, both internally and externally.

The emotion wheel helps us to understand the nuances of our emotions. By understanding and recognising where we fall on the emotion wheel, we can better decide how we want to respond or act in any given situation.

Dealing With Fear

Fear is a normal part of life — it can be healthy and serve to protect us. However, excessive fear can be debilitating and prevent us from taking risks or going out of our comfort zone.

When we feel overwhelmed by fear, understanding how to use the emotion wheel to move from fear to courage is essential.

What Is Fear?

So, what is fear? Fear is one of the basic emotions typically caused by feeling threatened or in danger. It can also be triggered by fear of the unknown or fear of failure. 

Fear can manifest as physical symptoms such as increased heart rate, trembling, difficulty breathing and sweating.

According to Merriam-Webster, fear is "an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger."

In understanding where we fall on the emotion wheel in terms of fear, we can begin to understand our discomfort and make positive changes.

[Heather Shay]

PRIDE

a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.

[Heather Shay]

satisfaction

noun

 

Add to word list 

B2 [ C or U ]

a pleasant feeling that you get when you receive something you wanted, or when you have done something you wanted to do:

[Heather Shay]

mel·an·chol·y

/ˈmel(ə)nˌkälē/

noun

a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause.

"an air of melancholy surrounded him"

[Heather Shay]

sat·is·fied

/ˈsadəsˌfīd/

adjective

1. contented; pleased.

[Ashley0616]

successful 

accomplishing an aim or purpose:

having achieved popularity, profit, or distinction:

 

[Heather Shay]

ten·der·ness

/ˈtendərnəs/

noun

gentleness and kindness.

"he picked her up in his arms with great tenderness"

[Ashley0616]

bored: feeling weary because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one's current activity:

[Heather Shay]

de·spair

/dəˈsper/

noun

 

1. the complete loss or absence of hope.

   "in despair, I hit the bottle"

[Ashley0616]

self-love: regard for one's own well-being and happiness (chiefly considered as a desirable rather than narcissistic characteristic)

[Heather Shay]

fear

noun

an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

"she is prey to irrational fears"

[Heather Shay]

com·pas·sion·ate

/kəmˈpaSHənət/

adjective

feeling or showing sympathy and concern for others.

"I allowed him to go home on compassionate grounds"

[Heather Shay]

 

 

 

mor·ti·fy

/ˈmôrdəˌfī/

verb

 

cause (someone) to feel embarrassed, ashamed, or humiliated.

"he was suitably mortified by his own idiocy"

[Heather Shay]

cheer·ful

/ˈCHirf(ə)l/

adjective

noticeably happy and optimistic.

"how can she be so cheerful at six o'clock in the morning?"

[Heather Shay]

Aesthetic emotions are emotions that are felt during aesthetic activity or appreciation. These emotions may be of the everyday variety (such as fear, wonder or sympathy) or may be specific to aesthetic contexts. Examples of the latter include the sublime, the beautiful, and the kitsch.

[Ashley0616]

Humility: a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness

[Heather Shay]

Up to 82% of people face feelings of impostor phenomenon, struggling with the sense they haven’t earned what they’ve achieved and are a fraud (Bravata, D. M., et al., Journal of General Internal Medicine, Vol. 35, No. 4, 2020). These feelings can contribute to increased anxiety and depression, less risk-taking in careers, and career burnout.

“There’s an ongoing fear that’s usually experienced by high-achieving individuals that they’re going to be ‘found out’ or unmasked as being incompetent or unable to replicate past successes,” said Audrey Ervin, PhD, a clinical psychologist in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and academic director of Delaware Valley University’s graduate counseling psychology program, who frequently sees impostor phenomenon in her patients and students.

While people commonly colloquialize this as impostor “syndrome,” “phenomenon” or “experience” are better terms because impostor phenomenon isn’t a clinical diagnosis, said Pauline Rose Clance, PhD, ABPP, an Atlanta-based clinical psychologist and professor emerita at Georgia State University, who coined the term “impostor phenomenon” with her colleague Suzanne Imes, PhD (Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, Vol. 15, No. 3, 1978). “It’s a phenomenon experienced by many, and remembering that can help normalize it,” she said.

It’s especially prominent among people with underrepresented identities. For example, BIPOC people who work or study in predominantly White environments wrestle with impostor feelings at higher rates, either contending with feelings that they don’t belong or that they’re products of affirmative action, said Kevin Cokley, PhD, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Texas at Austin who has studied impostor phenomenon since 2013.

Trans and nonbinary people experience a similar phenomenon, according to Ervin, who frequently works with gender-expansive clients. “There’s a very pervasive internal theme of not being woman or man enough, coupled with external fear that the world won’t see you, so you’re an impostor,” she said.

The effects of impostor phenomenon

It’s natural to wonder how you measure up in a competitive environment. A bit of self-doubt can even be a healthy way to adapt, said Andrea Salazar-Nuñez, PhD, a clinical psychologist at the University of Washington Counseling Center. “The brain wants to make sure we have all the boxes checked whenever we’re in an uncomfortable new setting,” she said.

[Ashley0616]

ecstatic: 

feeling or expressing overwhelming happiness or joyful excitement:

involving an experience of mystic self-transcendence

[Heather Shay]

 

 

 

re·gret

/rəˈɡret/

verb

 

1. feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over (something that has happened or been done, especially a loss or missed opportunity).

   "she immediately regretted her words"

[Ashley0616]

faith: 

complete trust or confidence in someone or something:

strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof:

a system of religious belief:

a strongly held belief or theory

[Heather Shay]

A person may experience “feeling blue” if they have emotions of sadness or feel down. Although it is possible to feel blue for no apparent cause, it usually happens for a reason.

People with the blues might feel unhappy or tearful, lack energy or motivation, or isolate themselves.

 

Although feeling blue may drain individuals of their usual optimism, enthusiasm, and happiness, it is temporary and does not typically interfere with their daily activities.

This article discusses what it means to feel blue and the signs to look out for. It also examines the differences between feeling blue and depression, how to overcome the blues, and when to get help.

[Heather Shay]

At its core, emotional pain is an intense feeling of distress, anguish, or suffering that stems from non-physical sources. Unlike the ache from a stubbed toe or a headache, this type of pain originates from events or circumstances that hurt us deeply on the inside.

[Heather Shay]

Disgust is an emotion. People feel it when they see, touch, hear, or taste something that they think is nasty or repulsive. It is also caused by scorn. For example, when one finds something dirty or not fit to eat. Levels of disgust vary based on cultural, religious, and personal backgrounds/experiences. Disgust can be deliberate as someone can do something on purpose to create this emotion.

 

[Ashley0616]

pride: a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.

[Heather Shay]

nerv·ous

/ˈnərvəs/

 

easily agitated or alarmed; tending to be anxious; highly strung.

"a sensitive, nervous person"