How to Use the Feelings Wheel

But worst of all, they cannot determine what others are feeling beyond secondary emotions. They cannot empathize and seek out additional information from others who are expressing their feelings. Instead, they seek to shut down the individual, fix their problem, or dismiss them — all to reduce their own anxiety.

This is likely one reason we see increased rates of anxiety among people with alexithymia. Because they cannot label their emotions, they aren’t as easily able to recruit their prefrontal cortex to help out and self-soothe when their fear system gets activated! So for people who struggle with emotional regulation or alexithymia, emotional labeling

Reading your feelings and emotions helps give you the ability to choose whether to give them attention, simply let them pass by, or utilize them for motivation.