Connecting Optimism

You may have seen a variation of an emotion wheel (aka:
feeling wheel). The above photo is a version from Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions https://positivepsychology.com/emotion-wheel/.

When Brian and I moved our series from posts on gratitude to posts on optimism, we started with a working definition of optimism. Moving from gratitude to optimism reminded me of how many emotions humans have. According to this article, humans have over 34,000 emotions. Wow! It would take us 93 years to write a post on each emotion. Even being optimistic, I don’t think that is going to happen.

However, I am optimistic and trusting that being more fluent in the language of feelings can help with emotional resiliency. The term for this is emotional literacy.

If you agree that learning how to identify feelings is foundational skill to take control of your emotions, as well as being a step in moving toward an optimistic outcome, here are some online exercises for you: https://tools.positivepsychology.com/ei-exercises. Fair warning, I have not researched a ton of the science behind this site. Our Agile Best Self mindset is based on a loose framework that allows our like-hearted community to apply what works for each individual. Take what works. Leave what does not resonate. No task lists here. See one of our values:

Adapting mindfully over prescriptive self-improvement

Side note: Another part of adapting mindfully (beyond what works for you may not work for me) is that what works for you today may not work for you tomorrow.

According to the emotion wheel from Plutchik, optimism lives in the space between interest and serenity. The word interest is also connected to the words alert and exploring. Sound like synonyms for adapting mindfully? To play with words and concepts in Plutchik’s wheel of emotions, check out this interactive, double-clickable emotion wheel. Invest some time in yourself by playing on the Internet.

Agile Best Self Principle #7: Investing the time in yourself is the primary measure of progress.

Personally, I need to focus a little more on building daily self-care habits. I’m going to spend some time upping my self-awareness, optimism and emotional literacy by reviewing Plutchik’s wheel of emotions. Once you select an emotion on the wheel, you can triple click on the “Learn more: How can I use my feelings?” section. This brings you to youtube videos on how to recognize and reinforce certain desired feelings.

I’m not sure what I will learn, but I am optimistic that this is a better use of my time than reading the news. Here is to a non-eventful, and low key Sunday to everyone!

Copyright © 2018 – 2023 Michaele Gardner and Brian Hackerson