List of emotions: feelings words to help you name what you feel

Happy feelings

Words for when something feels good, light or worth having.

• Content: quietly satisfied with how things are.
• Cheerful: in a bright, easy mood.
• Joyful: a fuller, warmer kind of happy.
• Delighted: very pleased by something that happened.
• Excited: looking forward to something, with energy.
• Proud: pleased about something you or someone close to you did.
• Grateful: thankful for something or someone.
• Hopeful: expecting that things can get better.
• Optimistic: generally expecting good things.
• Playful: light-hearted and up for fun.
• Amused: finding something funny.
• Confident: trusting yourself to handle something.
• Inspired: moved to do or make something.
• Loved: cared for and wanted.
• Affectionate: feeling warmth towards someone.
• Connected: close to someone, or part of something.
• Enthusiastic: keen and eager.
• Satisfied: pleased that something went the way you wanted.

Calm feelings

Words for when things feel steady, safe or settled.

• Relaxed: your body and mind have eased off.
• Peaceful: still and untroubled.
• At ease: comfortable, with nothing pulling at you.
• Safe: free from threat, able to let your guard down.
• Secure: sure of where you stand.
• Settled: things have found their place.
• Relieved: a worry or pressure has lifted.
• Comfortable: at home in the moment or with someone.
• Grounded: steady and in touch with what's around you.
• Centred: balanced, not pulled in different directions.
• Rested: recovered after sleep or a break.
• Patient: able to wait without strain.
• Accepting: letting something be as it is.
• Unhurried: not rushing, with time to spare.
• Serene: deeply calm.

Sad feelings

Words for when something feels heavy, missing or lost.

• Down: a little low, without a clear reason.
• Low: sad, with less energy than usual.
• Disappointed: something didn't turn out the way you hoped.
• Lonely: wanting connection that isn't there right now.
• Homesick: missing a place or the people in it.
• Grieving: sad about a loss, of a person, a relationship, a hope or a way of life.
• Heartbroken: deeply hurt by a loss, often of love.
• Regretful: wishing you'd done something differently.
• Empty: hollow, as if something has gone.
• Tearful: close to crying.
• Gloomy: everything looks a bit grey.
• Melancholy: a quiet, lingering sadness.
• Miserable: very unhappy.
• Discouraged: losing heart after setbacks.
• Hopeless: unable to see things getting better. If this stays, please talk to someone (see the support section below).
• Despairing: hopeless and overwhelmed together.

Hurt feelings

Words for when someone else's words or actions have stung. Hurt often sits underneath anger, so it's worth checking here if you feel angry.

• Rejected: turned away or not chosen.
• Left out: not included when others were.
• Let down: someone didn't do what you counted on.
• Betrayed: someone you trusted broke that trust.
• Abandoned: left on your own when you needed someone.
• Dismissed: your feelings or views were brushed aside.
• Misunderstood: someone got the wrong idea about you.
• Unappreciated: what you do goes unnoticed or unthanked.
• Taken for granted: your effort is expected, not valued.
• Used: someone took from you without caring about you.
• Criticised: judged or found fault with.
• Humiliated: made to feel small in front of others.
• Invisible: as if no one sees you.
• Wounded: deeply hurt, in a way that lingers.

Angry feelings

Words for when something feels wrong, unfair or in your way. Anger runs from a small itch to a strong surge, so the precise word tells you a lot.

• Irritated: mildly bothered.
• Annoyed: bothered enough to notice it.
• Grumpy: in a short-tempered mood.
• Impatient: wanting something to hurry up.
• Frustrated: blocked from something you want or are trying to do.
• Fed up: had enough of something that keeps happening.
• Exasperated: worn out by repeated frustration.
• Defensive: ready to protect yourself from criticism.
• Resentful: holding on to anger about being treated unfairly.
• Bitter: resentment that has hardened over time.
• Indignant: angry at something that seems unjust.
• Provoked: pushed into anger by someone's words or actions.
• Hostile: feeling against someone, ready for a fight.
• Furious: very angry.
• Outraged: shocked and angry at something seriously wrong.

Scared feelings

Words for when something feels uncertain, threatening or too much.

• Uneasy: a vague sense that something isn't right.
• Worried: thinking about what might go wrong.
• Nervous: jittery before something, often with butterflies.
• Apprehensive: uneasy about something coming up.
• Tense: braced, with tight muscles.
• On edge: jumpy and alert.
• Anxious: worried and keyed up, often in your body as well as your head.
• Insecure: unsure of yourself or your place.
• Vulnerable: exposed, easy to hurt.
• Threatened: something or someone feels like a danger to you.
• Dread: a heavy fear of something ahead.
• Overwhelmed: more than you can cope with right now.
• Helpless: unable to change what's happening.
• Panicky: fear rising fast, hard to think straight.
• Terrified: very frightened.

Flat or numb feelings

Not every feeling is loud. Sometimes the honest word is about having very little feeling at all, or being too tired to feel much.

• Tired: low on energy.
• Drained: used up, often by people or effort.
• Exhausted: completely worn out.
• Burnt out: worn down by long-term stress, often at work or in caring for someone.
• Bored: nothing is holding your interest.
• Restless: unable to settle.
• Distracted: your attention keeps sliding away.
• Foggy: hard to think clearly.
• Flat: emotions feel turned down.
• Listless: no energy or enthusiasm for anything.
• Apathetic: you can't bring yourself to care.
• Detached: cut off from what's happening, or from yourself.
• Numb: very little feeling at all.

Numb or flat can be a sign of being worn out, but if it lasts for weeks, or comes with losing interest in things you used to enjoy, it's worth talking to a GP.

Mixed and complex feelings

Some feelings are blends, or are about how you see yourself. These are often the hardest to name, and the most useful to get right.

• Guilt: feeling bad about something you did, or didn't do.
• Shame: feeling bad about who you are, not just what you did. Guilt says 'I did something bad'; shame says 'I am bad'.
• Embarrassment: an awkward, exposed feeling after a mistake others saw.
• Self-conscious: very aware of how others might see you.
• Envy: wanting what someone else has.
• Jealousy: fearing you'll lose someone or something to another person.
• Nostalgia: a warm, wistful longing for the past.
• Bittersweet: happy and sad at once, like the end of something good.
• Longing: a strong wish for something or someone you don't have.
• Ambivalent: pulled two ways about the same thing.
• Conflicted: two feelings or wishes that don't fit together.
• Confused: not sure what you feel, or why.
• Surprised: caught off guard, pleasantly or not.
• Awe: wonder at something much bigger than you.
• Overwhelm: so many feelings, or demands, at once that it's hard to pick any of them out.
• Relief mixed with sadness: glad something is over, and sad that it is.

Mixed feelings are normal. You can be proud of someone and envious of them, or relieved a hard time is over and grieving it. Writing down all of them, instead of picking one, is often more honest.

How to identify your emotions, step by step

You don't need to get it perfect. A minute is enough, and a 'roughly right' word is better than none.

1. 1Pause. Stop what you're doing for a moment and take one slow breath.
2. 2Notice your body. Check for a tight chest, a clenched jaw, a heavy head, a fluttery stomach or restless legs.
3. 3Pick the broad group. Ask which is closest: happy, calm, sad, hurt, angry, scared, flat or mixed.
4. 4Find the precise word. Read down that group and choose the word that fits best, or use your own.
5. 5Check for more than one. Ask what else is there, and whether one feeling is sitting on top of another, like anger over hurt.
6. 6Name what happened. Note what happened just before, or what has been on your mind.
7. 7Ask what you need. Rest, company, space, to say something, or one small thing you can do.

If you'd like to do this on paper, the free feelings wheel below puts six broad feelings and more precise words on one printable sheet, with a daily check-in and a week log so you can spot patterns.

Why naming your feelings helps

There's some good reason to think finding the word helps, with honest limits.

In a small brain-scanning study, Matthew Lieberman and colleagues (2007) showed adults photos of faces with strong expressions. When people picked a word for the emotion on a face, activity in the amygdala (a part of the brain involved in emotional reactions) went down. It went down less when they did other tasks, like matching faces. Researchers call this 'affect labelling'. The study was about labelling other people's faces in a scanner, not your own feelings, so it's a hint rather than proof.

A 2015 review by Todd Kashdan, Lisa Feldman Barrett and Patrick McKnight looked at 'emotion differentiation', the skill of telling one unpleasant feeling from another. People who describe their feelings in finer detail tend to cope better under intense stress. They're also less likely to turn to things like binge drinking or aggression. Much of this shows a link, not cause and effect. The authors describe the evidence that the skill can be trained as preliminary.

So a list like this won't fix anything on its own. What it can do is give you more words to reach for, which is the skill that research is pointing at.

What's the difference between a feeling and a thought?

It's easy to mix the two up, because everyday language does. 'I feel like they don't care about me' is really a thought, a guess about someone else. The feeling underneath might be hurt, lonely or rejected.

• A feeling can usually be named in a word or two: sad, angry, relieved, ashamed.
• A thought is a sentence about the world, other people or yourself: 'I'm going to fail', 'she's ignoring me'.
• A useful check: if you can put 'that' after 'I feel', it's probably a thought. 'I feel that I'm useless' is a thought; the feeling might be ashamed or hopeless.
• Thoughts can be weighed up and questioned. Feelings don't need to be argued with, only noticed and understood.

Separating the two helps. Once you know the feeling, you can be kinder to it. Once you can see the thought, you can ask whether it's fair. If a harsh thought keeps coming back, the negative self-talk worksheet helps you answer it.

Why it can be hard to name your feelings

If you look at a list like this and nothing seems to fit, you're not doing it wrong. Some reasons it can be hard:

• You grew up in a home where feelings weren't talked about, or certain ones (often anger or sadness) weren't allowed.
• You're used to being busy, so feelings only show up as tiredness or tension.
• You notice feelings mainly in your body: a headache, a knot in your stomach, a racing heart.
• You're under a lot of stress, and everything blurs into 'stressed'.
• One feeling covers another, like anger covering hurt, or cheerfulness covering worry.

You might find it hard to name and describe your feelings across most of your life, not just on bad days. Psychologists call this 'alexithymia'. It isn't a diagnosis in itself, and it can be worked on, often with a therapist. Starting small, with one broad word a day, is a fine way in. Journaling can help too: the guide on how to start journaling has simple ways to begin.

When feelings feel overwhelming: getting more support

This list and the worksheet are self-reflection tools, not therapy. Naming a feeling can make it clearer, but it doesn't always make it smaller, and some feelings are too heavy to carry on your own.

If a feeling is very strong, won't lift, or is getting in the way of sleep, work or relationships, please talk to a GP or family doctor, or a qualified mental health professional. They can help you find talking therapies or other support. If you've felt low, hopeless or numb for more than a couple of weeks, that's a good reason to book an appointment.

If you're in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, please reach out now. In the UK and Ireland, call Samaritans on 116 123. In the US, call or text 988. Anywhere else, find a helpline in your country at findahelpline.com. If you're in immediate danger, call your local emergency number. You deserve real support, not just a list of words.