The difference between emotions and feelings

People often use the terms feelings and emotions interchangeably but they are different. At 5th Place we use the following definitions when it comes to emotions and feelings and building emotional fitness.

July 22, 2022|Matthew & Chantal

What exactly are feelings and emotions, then?

People often use the terms feelings and emotions interchangeably but they are different. At 5th Place we use the following definitions when it comes to emotions and feelings and building emotional fitness.

Feelings are individualised somatic sensations in the present. These range from pain and discomfort to any internal or external response or reaction to an experience, real or imagined. These experiences can be in either the past, present, or future.

Emotions are groups or categories of feelings that are highly individual, personal and built from past experiences, education and socialisation. Emotions are usually described by generalised classifications, eg words like joy, sadness, disgust, etc.

An example of the difference between a feeling and emotion

Feeling says: I have butterflies in my tummy.

Emotion says: I am nervous.

Feeling says: I have butterflies in my tummy.

Emotion says: I am excited.

Feeling says: I have butterflies in my tummy.

Emotion says: I am guilty.

The experience is unique and personal

Each feeling is unique, personal and varies from one situation to the next. Using emotion words or labels to describe feelings is useful to give a construct of the feeling but it isn’t the feeling. Unlike what we have been taught, emotions are not absolute nor are they universal. They are learned and constructed over time.

Consider that there are over 1.5 billion English speakers in the world. Take the feeling of joy. The dictionary says:

Joy is a state of happiness or bliss.

However, each time a feeling of joy is experienced, it is unique. There are no two feelings of joy that are the same. At a minimum, this means there are at least 1.5 billion versions of the feeling of joy. It doesn’t stop there, though. Each time you have an experience of joy it’s different, so there are actually an exponential number of joyous feelings, yet only one emotional label. The same applies to every feeling we experience, no matter what we choose to call it.

Consider cultures that don't speak English. The Machiguenga Indians of the Peruvian Amazon have no term for worry in the way that English speaking people use and understand it. Our concept of worried combines two meanings which are separate in Machiguenga: frightened (otsarogake) and pensive (okenkiake). [1]

Emotions are not universal

Most of us use emotion words to describe our feelings as if they are universally experienced and understood. Using emotion words to label what we are feeling can be useful if it helps us to better manage the way we feel but it can also move us away from being able to down-regulate what we are feeling.

Whenever we use words we are utilising the the cognitive or thinking part of our being and this can keep us stuck in our heads, trying to think our way out of a feeling problem, situation or space.

If we can't or don't want to experience what we are feeling, then we can use something like Shape of Emotion to release the emotion and and let it go.

References

  1. Johnson, Allen, Orna Johnson, and Michael Baksh. “The Colours of Emotions in Machiguenga.” American Anthropologist 88, no. 3 (September 1986): 674–81. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1986.88.3.02a00110.

Matthew & Chantal
About the author

Matthew & Chantal

Read more articles by Matthew & Chantal →

More articles from 5th Place

You may also enjoy reading these