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The Field Guide to Emotions: A Practical Orientation to 150 Essential Emotions

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Humans are emotionally ignorant not because we have to be but only because we don’t make emotions a legitimate focus of learning. You may see emotions as a problem, but if you reflect on the challenges in your life you’ll find that many stem from a lack of emotional understanding of yourself or others. This can be changed. Imagine a life where you could accurately name the emotions you are feeling, more easily navigate from one to the next and leverage them as a life skill. The 150 emotions described here in detail will give you a new understanding of their usefulness and importance. Emotional literacy is a critical area of learning for leaders, educators, coaches, parents, and individuals. Embracing this learning will fundamentally change your relationship with emotions, your capacity to build healthy relationships and ability to create a life you love.

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Published January 25, 2024

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Dan Newby

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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for EL.
47 reviews18 followers
April 10, 2021
This is the book I'd always wished someone would write, because as an ontological coach, naming an emotion and describing its essence is something I do often. I should have gotten this book much earlier. Its content is robust, and it's easy to refer to. I don't think this is a book only for professionals either; if you've ever wanted to understand your emotions better, this is a book that you can easily read from start to finish, and come away with clarity for what your needs are.

www.elleryng.com
Profile Image for Taveri.
647 reviews82 followers
January 12, 2025
In the book "15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership" five emotions were noted: anger, fear, sadness, joy & sexual feelings. This book elaborates on 150! Apparently there are 500 and I didn't appreciate there were even 150 and that I had been acquainted with 98% them, but not necessarily with the same meaning provided in this elaborate dictionary type presentation.

The book provides about a dozen aspects of each emotion, such as: language root, purpose, what we think or say, impact on others, our reaction or impulse to action, related emotions, emotions we confuse with, how it can get in the way and a famous quote mentioning the emotion. Most of the words come from Latin, some from Greek and old English or Norse.

Here were some interesting tidbits:
Tolerance means to put up with something, Acceptance has no such condition.
Infatuation comes from a root meaning foolish, whereas Affection is the state of enjoying another's company.
"You, yourself, deserve your love and affection, as much as anybody" - Buddha.
"If you have a job without aggravation, you don't have a job" - Malcolm Forbes
Agony is the pain of a struggle, whereas Anguish is pain that will not be resolved.
Amazement is the quality of confusion as well as unbelievability, whereas Incredulity is simply unbelievable.
Ambition comes from 'ambitionem' meaning to go around, especially to solicit votes.
"Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings" - Salvadore Dali [I guess he wasn't impressed with ostriches nor penguins.]
Anger is one of the emotions people fear most, probably because our disposition is to punish the person we think has done something unjust.
"Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way- that is not within everybody's power and is not easy" - Aristotle
The purpose of Anguish is to tell when the world has changed dramatically.
"Every composer knows the anguish and despair occasioned by forgetting ideas which one had no time to write down." - Hector Berlioz [It's not just composers.]
"People who think they know everything are a great Annoyance to those of us that do." - Isaac Asimov
"If pleasures are greatest in Anticipation, just remember that this is often true of trouble." - Elbert Hubbard
Anxiety is the belief something may harm but not sure what it might be.
Fear is when we can name the thing, while with anxiety we can't.
Appreciation of another person can sometimes be confused with Affection.
Thankfulness is active, whereas Appreciation can be silent.
Apprehension is similar to Anticipation in that we are thinking ahead of what may happen, whereas with Apprehension, we are are expecting something bad.
"An Arrogant person considers himself perfect. It interferes with becoming a better person." - Leo Tolstoy
Latin "extonare" is to leave someone thunderstruck (root word for Astonishment)
Attraction draws us to people whereas Love means we accept someone as they are and have no desire to change them.
Awe is to approach with trepidation. It cme close to terror, horror or dread. [I do not concur]
Awe produces a reverence or terror for a greater power, whereas Wonder means we are experiencing a miracle.
Happiness means we feel fortunate. Bliss is something closer to serenity and peace.
Courage is the capacity to act in the presence of fear, whereas Boldness is tn take action willingly.
Caring About does not implicitly mean taking action whereas Caring For does.
Righteousness means we believe he have the only legitimate answer and are morally correct.
Empathy is the re-creation of another's emotion; Compassion allows us to maintain our own emotion.
Resentment means we believe something is unfair, whereas Cynicism we dismiss others' intentions no matter how good.
"A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." - Oscar Wilde
In Despair we don't see the possibility of a better future; we may not be bale to imagine one at all.
Disappointment means something we looked forward to is not going to happen; Resignation is the belief that nothing we do will make any difference. [like trying to change Donald Trumps mind]
"A dog own nothing, yet is seldom Dissatisfied." - Proverb
Fear is the belief something specific may harm, whereas Dread occurs when we do something unavoidable but scary.
Ease is comfort due to a sense of well-being, whereas Contentment is the feeling you don't need to change anything.
Elation is a lifting up whereas Exuberance is an overabundance.
Enchantment is to feel as if a spell has been cast. Infatuation makes you look a fool.
Envy means something in another's life would enhance ours while Jealousy is the fear we lose a relationship.
Faith means we believe something without evidence. Hope is the desire that something good will happen.
In Fascination we feel bewitched. Intrigued we feel entangled.
Fury is a violent madness whereas Rage is the belief that everything should be destroyed.
Generosity allows us to share resources, whereas Kindness is treating people well.
Gratitude is to believe everything is a gift. Thankfulness is appreciation of an equal exchange.
Guilt is the belief we betrayed our values. Shame means the same in regards to a group.
Hilarity is the emotion in wich everything is funny. Irreverence keeps us from taking things seriously.
"I prefer to fail with Honor than win by cheating" - Sophocles
Hubris, to act without consideration of consequences.
Humility keeps us grounded, whereas Obsequiousness we believe we are less important than others.
Boredom is the inability to find any benefit in an activity; Indifference is not caring.
"Violence isn't always evil. What's evil is Infatuation with violence." - Jim Morrison
Intrigue comes from Latin, intricatus 'entangled.' Intrigue mans to get entangled in and idea or relationship. Fascination is being enchanted by an idea or relationship.
Ire comes from our passions being provoked, whereas Frustration is belief things are taking too long.
"When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for the Joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks the fault lies in yourself." - Tecumseh
Laziness, we want to rest because we are tired. Contentment is to rest because we are satisfied.
"Laziness is nothing more than resting before you get tired" - Jules Renard
"We are most alive when we are in Love." - John Updike
"I'll take 50% efficiency to get 100% Loyalty." - Samuel Goldwyn
Generosity is sharing resources; Magnanimity is focused on taking care of others.
Melancholy is when we lost interest in life, while Sadness signals we lost something we cared about.
Mischievousness is to be intentionally playfully annoying, while Vengeance is is the desire to get even.
Despair means loss of Hope. Misery means or current life is bad or difficult.
Mortified means we would rather die, whereas Embarrassed is to like to avoid people knowing what we've done.
Nostalgia is the belief that life was better in the past. Regret is the belief we would be better off if we had gt done snmething.
"Nostalgia is not what it used to be." - Peter De Vries
Obligation is having no choice except to to act a certain way, whereas Responsibility is the belief that our identity depends on doing things a particular way.
"We would never learn to be brave and Patient if there were only Joy in the world." - Helen Keller
Perseverance is the energy to continue trying. Stubbornness [a rare triple double letter word, like Committee or Barroommate] is an unwillingness to change.
Rage is believing nothing is worth saving, Anger that the person creating injustice should be punished.
"Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die." - Saint Augustine
Apathy is not caring. Resignation is believing nothing will make a difference.
"One of the mnst sincerest forms of Respect is actually listening tn wat another has to say." - Bryant H. McGill
Revulsion makes us unable to look at a thing; Hate has us avoiding it all together. [I don't get the difference.]
Sadness means we lost something. Despair means we lost hope that things will improve.
Satisfaction means we have enough, whereas Contentment we like hnw lif is turning out.
With Shyness we don't like to be seen. Timidity is the desire to remain hidden account of Fear.
"Surprise is the greatest gift lief can grant us." - Boris Pasternak
Empathy allows us to feel what another feels. Sympathy allows us to understand what another is feeling.
"In the practice of Tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher." - Dalai Lama
Urgency means to press hard to move toward an objective quickly. Panic prompts quickness without purpose.
Yearning is wanting something so badly it hurts. Wistfulness is recalling something from the past. Desire is to wish for something to become available.


19 reviews1 follower
May 24, 2020
I use this book just about every day and it's been a huge huge help to me.
Profile Image for Fernanda Zavala.
18 reviews1 follower
February 16, 2022
Si tiendes a ser (como yo) más mental que emocional, este diccionario te ayudará a aterrizar y aclarar las emociones. De ahí puedes tomar mejores decisiones.
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