Printable Wheel of Emotions

There are around 34 000 emotions. We are so complex that it would be almost impossible to describe every single one of them.

This wheel of emotions is inspired by Dr Robert Plutchik's work*, an American psychologist.

If you find it easy to name the exact emotion that you are feeling, this is great. It means you know exactly your body, mind and spirit’s reactions and sensations.

On the other end, if you are like us and sometimes cannot find the exact emotion that you are experiencing, then this wheel of emotions might help you out.

Before each meditation, we settle down in a comfortable position and simply observe our state of mind and the sensations in our body. We let our thoughts come and go, We don’t fight with them or judge them. The only thing we do is try to find the exact emotions or state of mind we are in. And to do this so, we ask ourselves the following questions:

Do we feel happy? Do we feel sad? Do we feel disgusted? Do we feel angry? Do we feel fearful? Do we feel bad? Do we feel surprised?

If we answer yes to any of these questions, we try to narrow down our state of mind by using the emotions stated in level two of the wheel of emotions.

As an example, if you feel happy:

Do you feel playful? Do you feel content? Do you feel interested? Do you feel proud? Do you feel accepted? Do you feel powerful? Do you feel peaceful? Do you feel trusting? Do you feel optimistic? And finally, if you feel like the chosen emotions is not precise enough, you use the third level of the wheel.  Using the previous example where we feel “happy”, we narrow down our emotion to feeling “accepted” and then pick the word “respected” as our true emotion.

Once you have defined your emotion, write down in your journal your feeling before the practice. And after the practice, repeat the same process if you cannot define how you are feeling.

Defining your emotions will help you put the right word on the right feeling and know what your triggers are. It is not without knowing that emotions are always associated with causes. You could push your practice further by asking yourself what has triggered this feeling. We don’t experience fear for no reason, the same for sadness or happiness. It is best practice to compare the evolution of your state of mind alongside your practice of meditation in the long term. This is how you see progress and all the benefits of meditation.

* If you would like to learn more about Dr Robert Plutchik’s work, read The Emotions By Dr Robert Plutchik.