How are you feeling?
I swearily dropped my phone down the toilet earlier (shock, surprise) on top of a wee, then fished it out (disgust,repulsion), then realised this is the third time I have done this (regret, remorse, embarrassment, frustration) and then found it still worked (anticipation, joy, excitement, amusement)… and finally the realisation that I had a reasonably relevant anecdote to put in this email for you (slight smugness).
That was the little journey of emotions during phone-down-the-loo-gate(#episodethree).
So How are YOU feeling?
Here are some popular answers to this ‘not as easy as it looks’ question in alphabetical order, because I’m like that:
- Admiration
- Adoration
- Appreciation
- Amusement
- Anxiety
- Awe
- Awkwardness
- Boredom
- Calmness
- Confusion
- Craving
- Disgust
- Empathetic pain
- Entrancement
- Envy
- Excitement
- Fear
- Horror
- Interest
- Joy
- Nostalgia
- Romantic
- Sadness
- Satisfaction
- Sexual desire
- Sympathy
- Triumph
When we ask groups how they are feeling we know they will reliably give the same 10-12 responses.
There are over 34,000…
We are pretty ill-equipped as a species at dealing with emotions … or describing them properly.
Here’s just one example – when we say we LOVE someone/something, what do we really mean.
What’s the secondary emotion… the tertiary one?
You feel compassionate/protective towards someone?
Or you want to rip off their underwear??
You have to keep drilling to get to the good stuff…
(I could have gone on but I was running out of space)
By identifying exactly where you are in the spectrum of emotions, drilling down to be really specific you can stick a pin in your emotions map.
When you do that – you can work out whether you want be there or would rather change things and inhabit somewhere else.
This is important.
Like really important
Find out how you feel. Take it out of its box. Look at it objectively.
Give it language; name it, describe it.
Chase it down to the root like weeding dandelions.
What is it and what isn’t it.
Is it frustration or hunger?
Is it self-consciousness or anxiety?
Is it loneliness or sadness?
OWN IT
Really understand that no-one can actually make you feel anything.
That’s on you.
You did that.
Your emotions will predict your:
- health
- motivation
- productivity
- wealth
- well-being
- sense of fulfillment
- determine your ability to make effective decisions
They drive your life.
When you gain control of your emotions; you decide what happens.
If you don’t – people and events will decide all of that for you.
Let’s take back control.
Step 1. Increase your Emotional Literacy and drill down to the truth.
Step 2. Locate yourself on your Emotional Map
(we’ll be back soon with some navigation tools)
So – how are you feeling?
Check out www.wiseandgorgeous.com for more of what we do to help you feel better, mind, mood, body & food