The most significant achievement of a human being is perhaps to know themselves in and out. And the quest to decode emotions and mitigate the complex thread of human feelings has been the pursuit since time immemorial. Feelings are complicated, and so is our mind. How we perceive emotions is an intangible maze of neverending and unfinished tracks. The most famous treatise on Psychology says that no human mind or soul can understand their feelings. That is all in the emotion wheel.
Science says that we can perceive more than 34,000 types of emotions, but alas, we cannot decode them all. The number might feel overwhelming to perceive or keep track of. What is even more intriguing is the beautiful layers of emotions. Some are apparent, while plenty of them are underneath. Though the range of human emotions is as vast as an ocean, eight powerful emotions form the central pillar of our sensations, reactions, and experiences.
The Emotion Wheel – Explained
An emotional wheel is a scientific way to approach human emotions. In reality, a psychological theory encompasses the eight primary human emotions to help individuals understand their feelings, de-tangle them and self-regulate some of them. The Emotion Wheel was officially introduced by the famous psychologist Robert Plutchik in 1980. The contemporary era believed that behavior is the fundamental psychoanalysis domain and not emotions, but the advent of the emotional wheel changed concepts drastically
Depths of The Emotions With Emotional Wheel
The emotional wheel is shaped like a colorful flower with basic human emotions in the center. These primary emotions are apparently on the surface and, in reality, a mix of various other feelings. They can be decoded as
- Sadness: Grief + Regret + Discouragement +Melancholy +Hurt
- Anger: Bitterness + Rage+ Frustration + Irritation+ Jealousy + Offended
- Disgust: Hatred + Disapproval + Repulsion+ Disinterest + Critical
- Joy: Happiness + Elation + Ecstasy + Serenity+ Pride + Pleasure
- Surprise: Amusement+ Shock+ Distraction + Wonder + Awe
- Fear: Terror+Anxiety+ Apprehension+ Anxiety+Stress
- Anticipation: Interest+ Excitement+ Awareness+ Impatience
- Trust: Safety+ Hopefulness+ Support+ Secure+ Positive + Relaxed
The emotional wheel also talks about opposing emotions such as Joy and sadness, Trust and Disgust, anger and fear, and anticipation and amazement.
But how are the feelings manifested through our emotions? It is in this way that we behave according to what we feel:
| Emotion | Behavior |
| Fear, Terror | Protection, Withdrawal, Retreat, Contraction |
| Anger, Rage | Destruction, Breaking Barriers |
| Acceptance | Inclusion, Nourishment |
| Disgust | Rejection, Holding by harmful materials |
| Joy or Pleasure | Approach, Reproduction |
| Curiosity, Play | Exploration |
| Surprise | Reacting to Strange Objects |
How Does The Emotional Wheel Help Us in Self-Improvement?
Now that we have a clear idea about an emotional wheel let us understand how this can help improve a person’s internal thoughts and relationships with their emotions.
An emotional Wheel is an excellent tool for identifying and labeling emotions. Though emotions are not materialistic and can never be segregated, a clear understanding can help us manage our behavior and reactions. An emotion wheel is a vital tool that can help decode the mixed bag of feelings and help a person identify which evident emotion they are experiencing, ultimately guiding the response to the situation.
Self-Awareness
We started by saying that the ultimate pursuit of human beings on the planet is to understand themselves and know how and what they feel. The emotional wheel can strengthen the feeling vocabulary of a person and help us develop better consciousness about ourselves. Learning more about our primary emotions can also help to sort out our emotional responses.
Emotional Regulation
The whole idea of identifying, labeling, and becoming aware of our emotions focuses on how we can use the knowledge of our feelings to achieve better emotional regulation. Emotional regulation entails staying calm, composed, and collected despite the stress. When we say some people possess higher emotional intelligence or resilience, we mean they can respond better to situations without pressure. This ability is only possible when we deeply understand our core.
For Better Communication
We can express ourselves better if we understand what and how we feel. Better communication strengthens relationships and our apparent bond with others. Understanding the primary and secondary feelings extends our knowledge to deeper core values – we get less triggered and develop self-compassion and empathy for others.
Final Thoughts
Our feelings are the guiding spirits for our emotional awareness. Listening to and trying to entangle our feelings enhances our sense of emotional awareness, guiding us to retrospect our actions and align our emotions and values. If you are tangled and stressed with your motions – unable to identify or understand them, try using the emotional wheel.
