The Feelings Wheel
Objectives
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Learn self-advocacy and how you can become your own self-advocate with your own authentic voice.
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Apply the Feelings Wheels to identify feelings and feelings needs so you can grow in self-awareness and care.
Self Advocacy
Think about asking your boss about getting more shifts at work or talking to a teacher about a grade you disagree with. Self-advocacy means speaking up for yourself. It’s taking responsibility for getting your needs and wants addressed.
Being your own advocate takes practice and time. It's okay to ask for support when figuring out what you need or use your voice to speak your authentic truth. In this video, we will be inspired by Ohio high school student Abby Edwards and how she faced personal struggles. Abby learned to advocate for herself because of the struggles she experienced. Abby wasn't defeated by losing her eyesight. Instead, she learned to take care of herself and her feelings and gradually created a new life for herself by asking for what she needed.
As we learned, self-advocating can feel uncomfortable at first. But it is so rewarding to believe in yourself; this can help you grow in confidence.
Emotional Fluency
Advocating for yourselves begins by creating a safe space to see and care for your feelings. The TedTalk “Emotional Fluency” by Nate Evan Jr. speaks to his life experiences, struggles, and strength in caring for his feelings. Nate’s superpower is learning to see and honor his feelings and expressing them in a healthy way. Also, connecting to a community and not being alone helped Nate grow and love himself and others around him. Nate shares that your feelings are real and valid. You are also worthy, seen, and loved. Let’s continue to learn more about identifying feelings and how they impact us.
Feelings Wheel Take 2
Now, let’s go back to the Feelings Wheel by watching this video to learn more.
Sometimes, it's hard to figure out what feeling we are having. In the next video, J.R. teaches us about the Feelings Wheel.
J.R. recommends starting with the inside circle of the Feelings Wheel and working your way outward, gradually getting closer to naming the feeling. You can also start at the outside circle and work inward to identify the core feeling of either happy, sad, disgusted, angry, fearful, bad, or surprised. Identifying feelings and creating a safe space to sit with feelings is liberating. Feelings can be so strong and overwhelming, like a big boulder on our chest; they feel like they won't go away. But like a cloud in the sky, emotions do move on eventually. Sitting with our feelings helps us to see that we are not our feelings. It is easy to identify with our feelings and think that is who we are. Realizing we are not our feelings and taking care of the feelings needs is a way to take care of ourselves.
Tiktok Insights
Watch this TikTok video to learn more about the Feelings Wheel with Dr. Coach Rees. Click on the link below:
Image credit: Feeling Wheel by Calm
You are Amazing!
Wow, we learned so much in today’s lesson. Beginning with Abby’s inspiring life experiences in becoming a strong self-advocate, then to Nate’s Ted Talk about emotional fluency and the power of identifying our feelings and connecting to the community. Finally, J.R. taught us about the Feeling Wheel and how you can identify your feelings, take care of the feeling’s needs, and be the awesome person you are.
Your Voice Matters!
To improve this lesson, we want to know what you think. Your voice and opinions matter to us! Please answer the reflective questions, then break out your amazing research skills to find lesson-centered topic videos that would benefit future ChallengeU classmates. You can find your videos on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram.