Through wanting to befriend a breadth of emotions, over the years i’ve been gathering synonyms for various emotions. I appreciate getting to know specific flavours of experience as they emerge. Bringing curiosity has made discerning feelings less daunting, and sometimes more fun.
It all started with playfully answering the question ‘how are you doing?’ with three different emotions, instead of replying with a generic ‘i’m fine’. This morphed into a practice of, for one month each year, writing down 4 unique feelings i experienced that day, so that over the month i’ve connected with at least 120 distinct emotions. Each day can be a journey and unfold in multiple directions. I find that being creative with words for feelings can bring more intrigue and resonance to life, art, and sharing experiences.
Each person might categorize emotions in different ways. The following PDF has how i currently group feelings together, kind of like a paint palette. There is an image description below the link.
an emergent feelings palette – PDF
If there are any issues with accessing the document’s text with a screen-reader, please be in touch about receiving it in a different format.
Image description for the linked PDF file:
there are four pages with a background the colour of a clear blue sky. there are circles of varied sizes, each with a grouping of emotions written inside it. each page has two or more different colours of circles, which are like dollops of paint on an artist’s palette, or bubbles grouping together.
the first page has yellow circles for emotions grouped under grateful, satisfied, joy, calm, renewed. there are orange circles for friendly, loving, and compassionate, and a bigger purple circle with examples of ways of releasing emotions.
the second page has purple circles for emotions grouped under engaged, committed, encouraged, and empowered; and yellow circles for excited, elated, and expansive.
the third page is crowded. down the left side are grey circles for fear, disquiet, and restless, and a light red circle for overwhelmed. down the centre are light blue circles for sad, frustrated, and cranky, and at the bottom is a purple circle for craving. down the right side are light red circles for pained, angry, and averse.
the last page only has six circles. in the top half of the page, three circles are detached from each other: light red circle for confused, grey circle for disconnected, and light blue circle for fatigued. in the bottom half are three circles touching in a row: light blue circle for guilty, light red circle for shame, and purple circle for vulnerable.