Emotions glossary
Naming precisely already soothes. 20 words to help.
- Grief
- What we carry after a loss.
- Grief has no calendar. Waves, returns, calms. No stage is "required".
- Shame
- Feeling of being defective.
- Different from guilt ("I did wrong"). Shame says "I am wrong". It shrinks when spoken in a safe space.
- Loneliness
- Missing connection, even surrounded.
- Can be chosen (solitude) or endured (isolation). Isolation weighs, solitude is cultivated.
- Anxiety
- Fear of a diffuse danger.
- Different from acute stress. Anxiety anticipates, imagines, loops. Recognizing it speaks already helps.
- Anger
- Response to a crossed boundary.
- Useful when heard ("what does it protect?"), destructive when exploded.
- Sadness
- The body digesting a loss.
- "Low" emotion but useful. It slows, forces feeling. Let it pass, don't fight.
- Joy
- Brief, precious, fleeting.
- Often forgotten as fast as it comes. Noting it lets it linger.
- Envy
- What another has that you'd want.
- Signal about what you actually lack. Listen, don't judge.
- Jealousy
- Fear of losing what you have.
- Different from envy. Often tied to older wounds of self-worth.
- Guilt
- "I did something wrong."
- Useful if it leads to repair. Toxic if it loops without action.
- Overwhelm
- Too much, too fast, too dense.
- Signal that load exceeds current capacity. One sentence starts lowering it.
- Burnout
- Deep exhaustion, body and mind.
- Neither laziness nor weakness. Requires real stop time and often support.
- Compassion
- Tenderness for pain — including yours.
- Self-compassion: treat yourself as you'd treat a suffering friend.
- Resentment
- Old anger not yet digested.
- Writing it with no recipient shows what's still alive.
- Gratitude
- Recognizing what was given.
- Concrete, not forced. One precise moment beats ten hollow lists.
- Trust
- Believing what comes will hold.
- Rebuilds slowly after betrayal. Not forced.
- Fear
- Response to a clear danger.
- Useful, short, reactive. Becomes anxiety when it persists without clear object.
- Hope
- Anticipating something better.
- Grows on concrete ground. One past proof feeds more than ten promises.
- Boundaries (setting)
- Naming what's ok and what isn't.
- Setting a boundary doesn't harm — the lack of one wears you down.
- Vulnerability
- Showing up without armor.
- Required for deep connection. Chosen — with whom, when, how far.