resources
Working with the Feelings Wheel
When you are grieving (ie, adapting to change), you are going to have many feelings. Sometimes we sense something in our bodies or hearts but don’t quite have the word for it. Sometimes we feel so many things at one time that it’s hard to pull apart the pieces.
I’ve found working with a feeling wheel to be a useful tool not only for understanding what’s happening in the moment, but also for casting a vision for the future.
This worksheet, Creating What’s Next, helps clients work with the feelings wheel to think about what they want to create in their lives going forward. Whatever your loss, you have the power to nurture the future you want.
And you can download this free Feelings Wheel offered by The Gotman Institute.
The Interconnection of Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior
This is called the CBT Triangle. CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and is one of the most researched adn verified types of therapy for behavior change. The premise is that our thoughts, feelings, and bevaviors around a situation are all effected by each other, so changing any one will have an affect on the others. That give us a lot of power to change our experience!
There’s one exception: it’s really hard to simply choose to feel differently, so if we want to change how we feel, we need to change either our thoughts or our behaviors.
This worksheet, Journaling with Ambigous Loss, guides grievers through an exploration of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to their loss, and guides users to also acknowledge things their can celebrate, even while they grieve.
