Emotions, to some people, are easily expressible and not so much to others. Sometimes, these emotions are not easily recognizable either. You may feel happy but not know that you are feeling happy because you were not able to recognize that emotion because of various reasons. Sometimes, you will need help in recognizing and expressing your emotions, even if you normally are good at it. Let us see about the Wheel of Emotions.
Wheel Of Emotions
The wheel of emotions is a wheel with the primary emotions in the innermost circle. The primary emotions diverge into more sections that can be reasons for why you feel the primary emotion. The third circle has a bit more detail about emotions. This definition of the wheel of emotions might not be enough to form a vivid image in your mind.
This image has the core or the primary emotions in the center of the circle. Examples are Angry, Sad, and Disgusted. The second circle has emotions like Let down and Humiliated, which can be reasons to feel the emotion of anger. The third wheel has emotions that can be a result of the primary emotion. For example, if you were disgusted because you found something awful, your eventual response to it might be to be nauseated at it.
Why use the Wheel of Emotions?
Human beings are complicated and the human brain is capable of feeling a lot of things at once, on different ranges. It is not easy to figure out your feelings, especially if you are overwhelmed and not patient. But knowing to recognize your emotions and deal with them is important as you might not like to bottle up your emotions. That might cause you mental disturbance later on.
The wheel was first created by Dr. Robert Plutchik, who attempted to define the way emotions are related to one another. Modern versions of the same wheel represent a flower and have 8 core emotions as opposed to 7. The reason to create this was that humans may feel a sense of sorrow, but it can just be a feeling of vulnerability and not a sense of disappointment. Both are emotions of sorrow, but they are very different from each other.
Why should I recognize my emotions?
It is important to know that your emotions and your understanding of your emotions can teach you a lot in life. Our perception of emotion might be completely different from what it is. We tend to assume that the physical response that our body has to an event is the emotion itself. But that is not true. If you are nervous about something, your palms might start sweating. This can be perceived and is usually mistaken to be the emotion of nervousness, but in reality, it is just the result of your nervousness that is being triggered by your brain.
Your emotions are usually the release of a particular hormone whose secretions are triggered by your brain in response to a stimulus. These hormones make your body react in a particular way. Recognizing your emotion by the response that your body has is not the best way to go about it, which is where the Wheel of Emotions comes into play.
It helps you in determining the emotion you are feeling and to what extent. Recognizing the emotion correctly is the first step in coping with it. Sometimes you will have to determine your emotion to be able to take the next step in your endeavor.
How to use the Wheel of Emotions?
When you want to determine the emotion you are facing, take out the Wheel of Emotions and observe the innermost circle first. Your mental state will fall under one of those. You will then have to look at the diverging sections from that emotion and think about the reasons why you are facing the emotion in question. Find the correct word to describe your mental state then. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a single one. Then, look at the outermost circle, corresponding to your chosen emotion from the second circle. You will be able to determine your emotion and the correct word to describe it. Your description of your emotion is very important. Wrongly describing Cheeky as Confident will not be what you want to do.
For instance, if you are a student who has aced a test, your primary emotion might be happiness. This might lead to you being proud or content. Let’s say you are proud of your achievement and that will give you two more options: either successful or confident. You can feel both of these at once or just one of them. If you feel confident, you might attend your next test well or prepare for it as needed.
What can I get out of using the Wheel of Emotions?
You can have a better understanding of yourself and thus, a better relationship with yourself. You can recognize and label your emotions and over time, you can learn to control the negative emotions as you like. Also, you will be able to respond to it the way you like. Recognizing your emotions will make you more self-aware and that will give you the ability to predict the response that you will be having to any incident. This will help you cope better and manage your emotions better.
Conclusion
The Wheel of Emotions, when used rightly, will go a long way in helping you in becoming self-aware and ensure you can manage your emotions. Whether you are already good at recognizing your emotions or not, the Wheel of Emotions and its other versions help you a lot. It is often used by therapists to help people deal with their emotions and so it is safely said that it is trusted by trained psychiatrists. You can try using this and noting your results!
FAQs
- What are the core or primary emotions, according to the Wheel of Emotions?
The primary emotions in the innermost circle are Surprise, Happy, Anger, Sad, Fearful, Bad and Disgusted.
- How helpful is the Wheel of Emotions to an average human being?
The Wheel of Emotions is helpful to a person in different ways. It is worth spending your time to recognize your emotions using this.
