A wheel of emotions
“Fine” and “bad” are what most of us say when somebody asks how we are. A feelings wheel helps find a more exact word: the ring in the middle has seven core feelings – happy, sad, angry, fearful, surprised, disgusted and bad – and round the edge are the words that name each of them more precisely. Sad can be lonely, disappointed or guilty; angry can be frustrated or jealous.
Press SPIN! and the wheel lands on a feeling. Under the wheel you see both the word and the core feeling it belongs to:
How people use it
- Morning check-ins in a classroom or a team: everybody spins, and says when they last felt it.
- Journal prompts: write about a time you felt what the wheel landed on.
- Teaching children the words for their feelings.
- Drama and writing exercises: play or write a scene in that feeling.
- Simply reading it – the wheel is as useful as a chart when you are looking for a word.
It is a tool for talking and thinking about feelings, not a test or a diagnosis.
Only some of the feelings
Each core feeling is a button. Click it to take its words off the wheel or put them back – for example only the pleasant ones for a gratitude exercise:
Open a group to untick single words, or to add your own:
One feeling each
For a group check-in, open Options and tick Take the winner off the wheel, so every person gets a different feeling:
Past winners keeps the feelings in the order they came up: