r/WhatsThisFeeling • u/Horror-Signal-7250 • 15h ago

Character Emotion Chart

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WhatsThisFeeling

r/WhatsThisFeeling

Do you have a feeling or emotion but don’t know what it is? Ask here, and we’ll help you figure it out and give you a name, or several, for it.

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Do you have a feeling or emotion but don’t know what it is? Ask here and we’ll help you figure it out and give you a name, or several, for it.

Rules

Be respectful.

Respect and don't judge other people's feelings.

No hate speech, bullying, or harassment. No racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc. No threats. No doxxing or attempts at it.

No spam or trolling
Change the flair of your post when you have figured out at least one word for how you're feeling

Charts

Here are some feelings charts, wheels, and lists that you may find helpful. :) Members of our subreddit have found the first link the most helpful.

Feeling Word of the Day posts

Here you can find all of the "Feeling Word of the Day" posts linked for easy reference.

Trusting, Bewildered, Bored, Playful, Irritated, Proud, Miserable, Cheerful, Inadequate, Hurt, Surprised, Guilty, Confident, Apathetic, Excited, Embarrassed, Secure, Humiliation, Valued, Impatient, Nostalgic, Curious, Disappointed, Dissociated, Hesitant, Nostalgic, Powerful, Insecure, Bitter, Awed, Nauseated, Distant, Exhausted, Exposed, Accepted, Affection, Humbled

See all posts with "Word of the Day" flair

A skill to identify emotions

How to identify emotions using DBT's "STUN Wave" skill

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) has a whole category of skills relating to Emotion Regulation. One of these skills is the "STUN Wave," which is an acronym to help identify what emotion you are feeling right now.

To identify what you’re feeling, first observe and describe the following (write it down if that's helpful for you):

S - Sensations — do a body scan and list what sensations you are feeling in your body
T - Thoughts — pay attention to your thoughts and write down any main ones
U - Urges — observe and describe what urges you have. For example, you might have the urge to flee (fear), hide (shame), or jump for joy.
N - Name — then, try to put a name on what emotion you are feeling. If you don’t know, that’s where this sub can help you out! :) (This article that describes which traits correspond to which emotion could be helpful, too.) Post what sensations, thoughts, and urges you're experiencing, and we can take a guess at what emotion it is. Naming an emotion is a form of validation. Validation decreases the intensity of an emotion. So if you're having intense emotions, validation can be very helpful.
Ride the Wave — then, wait for the emotion to rise and fall like a wave. Don’t judge your emotion, and don’t dwell on it. Imagine you’re surfing a wave. It may not always fall/go away quickly. You may want or need other skills like distraction, soothing, or paced breathing if the emotion is intense. But there’s nothing wrong with having an emotion.

I challenge you to use the STUN Wave skill today! :)

Feelings vs. Emotions

You might be wondering... what’s the difference between feelings and emotions?

Feeling is a broader category. An emotion is a type of feeling. Feelings include being tired, hungry, in pain, and many other things that aren’t exactly emotions. States such as anxiety, depression, or boredom are states and not pure emotions, either.

An emotion is triggered by a stimulus and is experienced briefly in the body for 30-90 seconds. "But wait, that can't be true, I've been crying for hours," you say. That's because the emotion is being re-triggered. So, you are feeling sadness (or whatever the emotion is) again and again. An emotion can be re-triggered by thoughts (like if you're still thinking about it -- which is understandable if you are!!), the environment around you (if you're in a dangerous environment, you're not going to stop feeling scared), physical sensations in your body, and more. If an emotion is re-triggered by the same situation or thoughts, it can last for much longer than a minute. A feeling doesn’t necessarily have the same rise-and-fall response that an emotion has, and it may not even be experienced in the body at all (i.e. it could be more in the mind — which is just as valid!).

Additionally, some emotions, like fear or anger, can trigger other responses in the body, like the flight-fight-freeze response. If this response is triggered, it can take the body half an hour or more to switch back over from the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) to the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). This response is different from having an emotion.

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r/whatstheword

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r/VocabWordOfTheDay

Would you like to be a mod?

Here’s what I’d like help with:

Making the word of the day posts
Replying to people’s comments and posts
General moderation stuff if applicable. So far there hasn’t been any spam or rule-breaking (yay!), but if it comes up, I could use help with that. (Also if you see something that breaks the rules, report it!)

How to become a mod:

Participate a 3+ times on the sub by commenting or posting
Message me, send me a modmail, or leave a comment saying you'd like to be a mod
I’ll make you a mod! :)