How to use the wheel of emotions to improve your health

Emotions are complex. Sometimes you can feel two different emotions at once, while other times you may not know what you're feeling or what to do. To understand what's going on, psychologist Robert Plutchik simplified the range of potential emotional states into a visual model called the wheel of emotions .

How to use the wheel of emotions to improve your health

Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions describes eight core emotions that lie at the heart of our experiences, reactions, and feelings. You can use this wheel as a starting point to analyze why you're feeling that way, what your emotions are trying to tell you, and what to do about it.

How the wheel of emotions works

Plutchik’s wheel of emotions is shaped like a colorful flower. Eight core emotions form the center of the flower, and each petal conveys different levels of those emotions. The distance between two petals represents how those emotions can be combined.

Different emotional intensities are sometimes described as follows:

  • Primary Emotions: Primary emotions are located on the second circle from the middle and are considered the basis for all other emotions. These are the eight core emotions identified by Plutchik and all other emotions on the wheel are derived from these emotions.
  • Secondary Emotions: Secondary emotions make up the outer circle. These emotions build on the primary emotion and are depicted in lighter colors because they are less intense than the primary emotion. For example, anxiety is a milder form of fear, which is why it is on the outer circle.
  • Tertiary Emotions: At the innermost layer are tertiary emotions, which also build on the primary emotion but are more intense. Continuing with the fear example, terror — represented at the deepest layer — is a more intense version of fear.

How to use the wheel of emotions to improve your health

Here is an overview of the primary emotions, their associated secondary and tertiary emotions:

  • Sad: includes grief and melancholy
  • Disgust: includes hatred and boredom
  • Anger: includes anger and annoyance
  • Anticipation: includes alertness and interest
  • Joy: includes happiness and serenity
  • Fear: includes terror and anxiety
  • Surprise: includes astonishment and distraction
  • Trust: includes admiration and acceptance

How to use the wheel of emotions to improve mental health

As a tool for labeling

Labeling is a powerful tool for stopping the emotional spirals that cause chaos in your mind. Instead of pushing emotions away, labeling can help you make sense of them.

Emotions and logical thinking occur in two different parts of the brain. Labeling takes you out of the emotional circuitry and pushes your thinking into the prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain that helps you reason and solve problems.

Try using the emotions wheel whenever you notice yourself feeling something, whether positive or negative. The more you practice labeling your emotions, the better you'll be able to choose how to respond.

As a tool for self-awareness

As you begin to pay attention to your emotions, whether through journaling, coaching, or some other form, you develop self-awareness.

The wheel of emotions can help you expand your emotional vocabulary.

For example, let's say you're feeling exhausted and having trouble staying motivated and focused on work. You might look up "optimism" on the emotion wheel and see that it's a combination of joy and anticipation.

Knowing the primary emotions that lie beneath the surface of your emotions can help you understand the triggers that trigger your emotional responses.

As an emotional regulator

Emotional regulation is the ability to remain calm, composed, and focused despite stress. People with strong emotional regulation skills are more resilient and perform better in teams.

Unfortunately, many people feel the first signs of discomfort and shut down. Instead of reacting to stress by trying to minimize it, you can use the wheel of emotions to identify your emotional needs.

Sign up and earn $1000 a day ⋙

Leave a Comment

How to remove logo in PDF file is very simple

How to remove logo in PDF file is very simple

With these free tools, you can remove watermark from any PDF file with just a few clicks.

Assassins Creed Shadows Gameplay

Assassins Creed Shadows Gameplay

Assassin's Creed Shadows system requirements aren't too demanding, which is a good sign.

Lien Quan blank character, Lien Quan blank character

Lien Quan blank character, Lien Quan blank character

Lien Quan Mobile allows players to name spaces, however players will have to use the space character copy below to edit.

Alibabas AI Turns Still Photos into Talking and Singing

Alibabas AI Turns Still Photos into Talking and Singing

EMO (Emotive Portrait Alive) is a new generative AI researched by Alibaba's Institute of Intelligent Computing (IIC) with the ability to transform any image into speaking and singing realistically.

Microsoft adds GPT-4 Turbo LLM to free version of Copilot

Microsoft adds GPT-4 Turbo LLM to free version of Copilot

The year 2023 saw Microsoft betting heavily on artificial intelligence and its partnership with OpenAI to make Copilot a reality.

How to edit a response on Gemini

How to edit a response on Gemini

In the latest update, Gemini added the option to edit the responses you receive when you submit content to Gemini.

Latest One Fruit Simulator Codes and How to Enter Codes

Latest One Fruit Simulator Codes and How to Enter Codes

The latest One Fruit Simulator code will give players double experience time, increase coin output rate, character bonus rate... similar to Blox Fruit code.

Miss Fortune DTCL: Build, Miss Fortune team season 8

Miss Fortune DTCL: Build, Miss Fortune team season 8

Miss Fortune DTCL season 8 is considered a quite effective late game carry. The important thing is that you need to have a solid tank line to endure long enough for her to shoot.

22 Tips to Improve Your Listening and Streaming Like a Pro on Spotify

22 Tips to Improve Your Listening and Streaming Like a Pro on Spotify

The music streaming service has grown quite a bit over the past few years, becoming more predictive and personalized while still attracting an ever-expanding selection of music, podcasts, and audiobooks.

How to Browse Reddit Anonymously

How to Browse Reddit Anonymously

Want to browse Reddit in a way that doesn't involve apps tracking your browsing activity?

How to turn off Shot on dual camera logo on Xiaomi, Huawei phones

How to turn off Shot on dual camera logo on Xiaomi, Huawei phones

How to turn off Shot on dual camera you will cancel unnecessary text on the captured photo

How to take better photos with your smartphone

How to take better photos with your smartphone

Camera settings, lighting, scene modes, and composition all play a role in making your photos look better. In this article, Quantrimang shows you photography and photo editing tips to help you get the best photos!

Photos that look normal but contain scary stories

Photos that look normal but contain scary stories

Below are photos that at first glance seem normal but contain scary stories, they could be historical events or the last moments of a person's life...

What is the peak flow? What is the peak flow sect?

What is the peak flow? What is the peak flow sect?

What is peak flow? What is peak flow? What are the four great peak flows? What is flow? Please find out in the article below.

5 Useful Quick Actions in Adobe Express

5 Useful Quick Actions in Adobe Express

Adobe Express Quick Actions, especially the ones below, are exactly what you need to get such tasks done in seconds.