Disgust: These words have strong associations with swirly or balled up energy in the gut/stomach/throat and uneven facial muscle expression (one side of the lip or eyebrow raised, or a slight head or vision turn/literal looking away) Disgust indicates a need to avoid, to purge, to not "digest" something. A feeling of joy indicates satisfied needs in a given moment. Energy is comfortably oriented towards one’s center or the center of another. Joy contains words associated with a feeling of lightness, centeredness, calmness of energy/breath and limbs, upward-oriented facial expressions (smiles), soft eye contact or gently closed eyes.
I have landed on these six core emotions ("genius" being my proposed addition to the usual core emotion categories) and determined which words go in which wedges based on my lived and observed experience of how each word's somatic expression aligns with the way the center emotion is expressed in the face/body and the core needs it relates to. Emotion Wheels stem from the notion that there are 5-7 universal expressions of emotion, which humans use (largely through body language and facial expressions) to communicate our needs. Gloria Wilcox and the many others that have been created over the past decade. My design is inspired by and adapted from Robert Plutchik's initial 'Wheel of Emotions" as well as the later adaptation by Dr. Please note that I am not a mental health professional and this wheel and the worksheets above are more rooted in artistic exploration, personal research/study and my own self-reflection than they are in science or in-depth scientific research. I hope it gives you some tools and language to better understand how you're feeling and how to communicate those feelings to others. My hope is that this wheel and the framework with which it was designed inspire you think about your emotional experiences in a more nuanced way. Someday, I will write more about the thought process behind the colors, the core emotions, the watercolor medium and the decision-making logic behind which words go where, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy spending time with it. I am currently making updates as I receive feedback from folks using it out in the world (please reach out if you have any notes to share). My therapist joked that I should make my own wheel. the colors felt wrong, there weren't rules for which words went in which categories and every wheel I could find looked like it had been designed in ClipArt in the 90's. When I began to engage with existing versions of the emotion wheel, they overwhelmed me more than helped me. This is an emotion wheel that I designed in 2020 (the year of all the feelings.) for use in my own therapy and healing work. If you feel comfortable, share what you circled or drew- with a loved one, a teacher, a mental health professional, the internet, or hey, you can always send me what you made, I would love to see it :) Reflect on this visual representation of “how you're feeling"- what do you notice? Can you notice where certain feelings show up in your body? Are there any feelings you’d like to pay special attention to or to cultivate as you move forward in your day? You can also draw/paint the colors associated with the words (whether the ones on this wheel, or your own color associations) or circle the words if you have the wipeable version of the wheel. Look up the definition of any words you don't know. (*Try to write down or circle at least 5-10 words) As you go through, write down any words that resonate with the experience you're having in the current moment. Make your way around the wheel- reading or having someone else read each word. Here's how I use it if you need a place to start:įind a quiet moment and settle into yourself however works best for you-focus on your breath, drink some water or tea.
Please please use this emotion wheel however you are inspired to. If you see this work being used improperly out in the world, please let me know. Please reach out if you would like to use any of these resources as apart of a larger work, request a custom edition or have any other questions regarding usage. I also have personal and professional use licenses for sale on my Etsy shop (see below) My main request is that these images are properly credited, not altered or copied and bonus points if you're able to give them a shout out on the internet and/or make a donation or purchase of a license or print. You are more than welcome to use this image for educational and personal purposes, but please do not resell it or put it on/in items that you are selling without my permission. To view a copy of this license, visit or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA. These images are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.