Why Emotion Tracking?
A “3-step” approach to using the wheel of emotion app — All The Feelz.
About the wheel of emotion behind the App
What is an emotion? An emotion is a brain chemical response to an external stimulus. The emotion of fear is in response to a saber tooth tiger chasing you. The emotion of love is in response to your newborn baby staring into your eyes. Our emotions are interpreted through the lenses of our lives into feelings. When we experience negative emotions, if we cannot describe how we are feeling, the intensity of those emotions is heightened.
Allthefeelz is an emotion tracking app created for this very reason. Developing your emotional vocabulary is the first step in managing your emotional state and reducing the intensity of negative emotions like anger and fear. Being able to clearly identify how we are feeling has been shown in scientific studies to reduce the intensity of negative experiences because it re-engages our rational mind
The Wheel of Emotions
Allthefeelz is based on the ‘Wheel of Emotional Words’ developed by psychologist and pastor Geoffrey Roberts, who’s work is focussed mostly on negative emotions, as these are often the most difficult to name and negotiate.
As you can see from the image here, there are seven color-coded categories, including happy, bad, and disgusted. While this wheel is mostly focussed on negative emotions, there are still over 25 emotions to choose from when you’re searching for just the right words to describe that happy feeling. By naming the exact feeling, we continue to increase our emotional literacy as we experience being joyful, proud, accepted, and content. With over 130 human emotions to choose from, how else would we navigate the turbulence of emotions that move through us every day?
Step 1. Select your emotion
On any given day we can not be sure how we will be feeling. The daily commute to work can go smoothly or not. Our first interaction as we buy our morning coffee can be a positive one or not. The first meeting of the day can be a good one or not. I think you can see where I’m going with this.
Each day we are presented with daily life, and despite the notion of groundhog day, every day differs slightly. We are required to negotiate the new situation while managing the existing circumstance. These nuances can create a range of emotions and feelings that in turn affect our moods.
Each time you choose an emotion, be as honest as possible, and choose the emotion that best suits your current feeling. There’s no right or wrong. It is simply a record of your emotions.
This emotion wheel app will provide you with a number of categories under which you can choose a more specific feeling to provide as accurate a record as possible. For example; under the emotion Sad you will find isolated, powerless and victimized. Not necessarily names that roll off the tongue, but nonetheless all relevant feelings associated with that particular emotion. This process helps us understand that emotions are temporary and constantly changing.
Naming and recognizing emotions is a powerful tool in managing your mood and moving past difficult or challenging emotions. When you track your feelings using Allthefeelz, you will increase your emotional literacy, an important tool in creating empathy in relationships. You will also notice a significant improvement in your own self-awareness, as you learn how to manage your moods and regulate your emotions.
Step 2. Review the Data
Allthefeelz organizes your personal data in a dashboard and presents you with detailed graphs that you can share with your therapist, or use as a tool for your own personal growth. By having a record of your emotions that you experience each day, you can begin to recognize the full breadth of feelings that humans have. Allthefeelz is like an emotional journal. You can look back at specific dates and see how your emotions affected your mood and your behavior while developing your emotional literacy and intelligence.
Step 3. Share Your Emotions
Once you have revied your data, you decide whether you want to share it with a therapist or coach. If you are working through a program of personal development or therapy, emotion tracking is an extremely valuable tool. With the help of a therapist or coach, you can review your progress together.
The Allthefeelz community is a safe space where you can also share your emotional data. Your profile will be kept anonymous, and this is especially useful in the event of a national or global crisis like COVID-19 as you reflect on how others were feeling at the time. Yes, it’s true we can experience feelings as a collective.
The community demonstrates that by learning to identify and label your own emotions, you can also become better at identifying other people’s feelings, which is an important part of developing Emotional Intelligence and Empathy.
You can also choose to share your data with a partner or close friends. It may encourage them to join you in tracking their emotions, or alternatively, give them insight into your feelings, if you are having difficulty expressing them.
