By John Kinyon
Feeling is awareness of inner bodily experience of sensations and emotions, versus thinking, such as “I feel like you don’t respect me,” or “I feel that you’re not listening.” Words commonly used for feelings often mix up thought and feeling (“faux feeling” language, e.g. “I feel judged, disrespected and unappreciated.”) Feelings relate to our perceptions of the world and the quality of our thinking. Feeling presence in our body and compassionately accepting our feelings creates inner connection and helps us process/integrate emotions.
The feelings and needs on this PDF Handout are suggestions only; this listing is neither complete nor definitive. It is intended as an aid to translating words that are often confused with feelings. These words imply that someone is doing something to you and generally connote wrongness or blame. To use this list, when somebody says “I’m feeling rejected,” you might translate this as: “Are you feeling scared because you have a need for inclusion?”
John Kinyon has devoted his life and career to furthering human connection and cooperation around the world through empathic communication. John is co-creator of the Mediate Your Life (MYL) training program and company, based in the work of Nonviolent Communication/NVC (cnvc.org).
More samples from the PDF file:
