The research and work of Gabor Maté, a renowned Canadian physician and author shows that suppressing our emotions can have serious consequences, including making us physically and mentally unwell. Maté emphasises that unprocessed emotions can manifest as stress, anxiety, and even physical illness, highlighting the importance of acknowledging and addressing our emotional experiences for overall health and well-being.

So if we know that learning to express, regulate, and accept our emotions can significantly impact our lives, where should we begin?

A good starting point is to recognize that we experience a wide range of emotions every day and learn how to name them. As Brené Brown puts it, “Language shows us that naming an experience doesn’t give the experience more power, it gives us the power of understanding and meaning.”

Below we are providing you with a Wheel of Emotions, which was created by the Recipes of Wellbeing, inspired by Dr Robert Plutchik’s petal model. This wheel consists of 8 primary emotions (joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, and anticipation) and many more subtle emotions. It gives us the opportunity to expand our emotional vocabulary and recognize that there are far more emotions than we might have imagined. You can use this wheel for yourself to better understand and name your own emotions whenever needed. You can also use it in your personal relationships and with your colleagues to better understand what others are experiencing, check the group’s mood, or address conflicts. Allowing people to express and name their emotions can increase empathy and compassion, which can ease conflicts and help resolve them more smoothly.

Source: Recipes for Wellbeing

Now that we have a better awareness of our emotions and can name them more easily, the question remains: How can we truly accept and embrace the most painful emotions, such as anger, sadness, hurt, and grief? The truth is there is no quick fix for dealing with deep sadness or heartbreak, and no amount of knowledge or skills can make these feelings and experiences less painful. However, the insights and tools we share can lead to a sense of empowerment, giving you control over how you react, feel, and act. Paradoxically, accepting, surrendering and embracing the most difficult human emotions can also lead to a deeper sense of love, belonging, gratitude and connection – with yourself and others.

From Buddhist teachings in Thailand, we learnt that recognizing the impermanence and constant change of everything, including our emotions, can give us relief and help us navigate life’s experiences with greater ease. Have you ever had days when you felt deep sadness in one moment, and the next moment it shifted to laughter or even joy later in the day?

We certainly had those days and many more days like this are ahead of us. Do you see what we mean by impermanence of things and constant flow in life?

If you want to explore how many emotions you experience in a single day, try this simple yet effective exercise:

Brene Brown says that when we learn how to accept our emotions, we get closer to understanding how others might feel and connecting to ourselves and others with an open heart. And that in itself makes this journey worthwhile.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the ANPCDEFP. Neither the European Union nor the ANPCDEFP can be held responsible for them.