Feeling vs. Emotion: What’s the Difference?
(This video was recorded a few months ago. The intro/exit were an experiment I’m not planning to continue, for a series to be called “Secrets of the Feeling Mind.”) TRANSCRIPT: I get a lot of questions about the difference between feelings and emotion. And in The New Feeling Psychology, there’s a real distinction between those two, and it’s very important. Emotion is your body’s response to threats and opportunities. It’s your body’s preparation to meet your environment in an optimal way....
read moreThe feeling compass points the way home.
The Feeling Path Mapping System reveals that feelings are our most reliable sources of authentic wisdom about our lives. Approached skillfully through tangible imagery, feelings point each of us infallibly toward our personal “magnetic north.” Wouldn’t it be nice… So many times in our lives we feel off track. Our “true” life, our calling, our authentic expression elude us. Perhaps we sense the general direction, but we feel unable to strike out to seek our truth because of conflicting messages. Some...
read moreA new, tangible language of feeling
It’s difficult to talk about feeling, isn’t it? Language is a medium of concrete distinctions, and in the land of feeling, there are too few distinctions we can easily make. Our language falls flat, ineffectual. And scientists have never come up with a way to measure feeling explicitly. So we are left with a large gray zone in the center of our experience, with no way to share or investigate it. Feeling State Mapping changes all that. The practice asks us to turn our attention to the actual, felt experience of consciousness. And it...
read moreAre you just making it up? Yes!
When most people begin to answer the Feeling State Imaging questions, the process feels a bit awkward. They’ve never been asked about what color, or temperature, or substance quality their feeling of sadness or frustration feels like. It feels like they’re “just making it up,” and they wonder if they’re “doing it right.” The answer is, yes, you’re doing it right. The simple fact is, there is no cold ball of steel vibrating in the pit of your stomach, (for example). There is, however, a felt...
read moreThree simple questions for relief any time
When you’re feeling distressed for any reason, take a quiet moment to ask yourself these three questions: What am I feeling? (Name it, notice the actual felt experience qualities.) What does this part of me want to feel instead? (Allow an inner shift, notice the difference.) What does this part of me want me to know? (Information about your needs, desires, possibilities.)Optional: What else am I feeling? (Go back to the beginning and repeat the series.) Use these three questions whenever you feel something that disrupts your balance. If...
read moreFeeling complements any other path
The Feeling Path is fast. And it’s a perfect companion to any other personal work you may be pursuing. No matter whether you’re going to therapy, involved in a self-help group, practicing meditation, working with an executive coach, or involved in any other growth or spiritual practices, you’ll appreciate how quickly you’ll get unstuck and move your progress forward once again. Compatible with somatic therapies Feeling is rooted in the body, and the experience of feeling intermingles with the experience of embodiment....
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