Increase your emotional vocabulary

If you want to gain more control over your feelings it is useful to increase your vocabulary when naming them. This stops any tendency to overgeneralize. Use the list below to be more specific about the feelings you experiencing to trigger situations so that you can be very clear when these feelings change.

These words can be used to describe your state of mind. What feelings are you really experiencing when you have an unpleasant emotion?

Feelings checklist

Aggressive	Cut-up	Free	Livid	Shocked
Aggrieved	Degraded	Fuming	Lonely	Shy
Agitated	Deplorable	Furious	Malevolent	Small
Angry	Depressed	Futile	Malicious	Sour
Annoyed	Diminished	Grief-stricken	Marred	Spiteful
Anxious	Dirty	Grumpy	Melancholic	Strong
Apprehensive	Disbelieving	Guilty	Moody	Sullied
Ashamed	Discouraged	Gutted	Mortified	Tearful
Awkward	Disenchanted	Harmed	Mournful	Tense
Bad-tempered	Disillusioned	Heart-sick	Nervous	Thwarted
Belittled	Displeased	Hideous	Offended	Timid
Bereft	Distraught	Horrible	Outraged	Touchy
Bitter	Distressed	Humiliated	Pain (in)	Troubled
Blameworthy	Docile	Hurt	Pained	Truculent
Blue	Dogmatic	Ignorant	Paranoid	Unconfident
Bothered	Doubtful	Ill-tempered	Peevish	Uneasy
Calm	Downcast	Incapacitated	Perplexed	Unforgiving
Chaotic	Downhearted	Inconsolable	Prickly	Unpardonable
Comatose	Edgy	Insecure	Relieved	Unsure
Concerned	Enraged	Inspired	Resentful	Vexed
Confident	Envious	Irritated	Restless	Wary
Confounded	Fearful	Jealous	Self-conscious	Worried
Crestfallen	Forgiving	Jumpy	Self-doubt	Wounded
cross	fractious	Let down	Shattered	Wronged