Susan Senator

I had lunch with a friend yesterday and we got to talking about feelings, and what they really feel like. It was surprising to me to realize that I never actually simply feel my feelings, without attaching some kind of context, explanation, and most likely, action to them. What is it like to just feel feelings? What do they feel like?

I have run the full gamut of feelings in the last few days, because of a series of unfortunate events and the time of year (see book), and so it was an interesting exercise to me to figure out what I was feeling and when, what was that like in my body, rather than focusing on why I was feeling it, and what to do about it. Giving myself the time to simply be aware of emotions and feelings is a way of taking care of myself.

Here is a catalog of what I discovered, in terms of what my feelings feel like and where they tend to reside in my body.

Happiness: warm, sleepy, still, dreamy, present, covers, pillows, bath, soft, around the mouth and nose
Anger: on the edge of something strong, in belly and throat, also behind the eyes
Sadness: a silvery pulling downwards from throat to chest/heart
Confusion: masks sadness and anger, deep inside head and behind the eyes, forced space between thoughts

What do you think? (Feel?)