Okay, so I started thinking about feelings lately. Not in a deep, philosophical way, more like… practically. You know, you feel things all day, every day. But I realized I wasn’t really paying attention to the flavor of the feeling, just whether it was strong or weak.
Trying to Make Sense of It
I got stuck on this idea: what makes ‘annoyed’ different from ‘sad’? Both feel bad, right? But they’re not the same. Same for ‘happy’ versus ‘excited’. Both feel good, but different vibes. It wasn’t just about how strong the feeling was.
So, I started doing this little exercise for a week. Just checking in with myself. How am I feeling right now? And the main thing I tried to pin down was simply: does this feel good or does this feel bad? Forget the fancy labels for a minute. Just good or bad. Pleasant or unpleasant. That core thing.
It sounds super basic, I know. But actually stopping and asking just that… it was kinda revealing. Like cutting through the noise.
What I Noticed Day-to-Day
Here’s what popped out during my little experiment:
- Some feelings are definitely bad (negative, I guess?). Like stubbing my toe. Instant ‘bad’ signal. Or feeling anxious about a deadline. Clearly unpleasant.
- Some are clearly good (positive?). Like sipping coffee on a quiet morning. That’s a definite ‘good’ feeling. Or getting praised for something I did. Feels nice, pleasant.
- Sometimes it was hard to tell! A feeling could be intense, but was it good or bad? Like watching a scary movie – it’s unpleasant in the moment, maybe, but you choose to do it? That one still messes with my head sometimes.
- Realized how often I just ignored the basic good/bad signal and focused only on how loud the feeling was. A mild ‘bad’ feeling (like boredom) could linger all day if I didn’t notice it and do something about it.
It wasn’t about judging the feelings as right or wrong. Just noticing that basic quality: Does my body/mind want more of this (pleasant) or want it to stop (unpleasant)?
So yeah, that’s the core thing I zeroed in on – this simple ‘good’ or ‘bad’ quality of a feeling. It’s like the first filter. Once I started noticing that, it became a bit easier to understand why I react certain ways or what I might need. If it feels bad, maybe I need to change something. If it feels good, maybe I should figure out how to get more of that. Simple stuff, but it’s been surprisingly helpful just tuning into that basic signal.
