Blog, Pitang.

First of all, the concepts

Before talking about the Inventory of Emotions, it is important to learn how to distinguish certain concepts that blend together, yet are distinct. Among them, according to the Michaelis Dictionary, the following stand out:

Sensation: A specific reaction caused by an external or internal stimulus, making an impression on our sensory organs. For example: wind on the face.

Perception: The capacity to distinguish through the senses or the mind; intelligence. For example: a cold wind on an overcast day, which combined with rain, might cause a cold.

Emotion: An affective reaction of great intensity that involves changes in breathing, circulation, and secretions, as well as mental repercussions of excitation or depression. For example: I sense a person's presence, realize it is someone I know, I like this person, and I break into a huge smile.

Motivation: A series of factors, whether affective, intellectual, or physiological, that act on the individual, determining their behavior. For example: upon meeting a loved one I haven't seen in a while, I move to hug them.

Making this distinction and leaving psychologism aside, coaching processes allow us to engage in dialogue with our coachee to conduct an inventory of their emotions. 

The proposal is to offer the person the opportunity to map their emotions over a period (for example, a week) to notice how their emotional states have been during that time. 

As humans, we can experience emotions that lift us up or make us reflective, have multiple emotions in a single day, but with one being prevalent; in other words, there is no set number of emotions a person can experience in a day. For our coachee, what matters is mapping these states so they can “perceive” how they are doing and whether there will be any “motivation” to trigger a change in their life.

Using the emotion mandala

As a proposal, we can use an emotion mandala, as presented:

A next step is to propose to our coachee that they track their emotions over a specific period. For example:

Once the emotions are mapped, coach and coachee talk and our coachee takes center stage with their reflections, supported by the coach's impartial observation, and from that movement, plan which actions would be worthwhile to maintain or modify what was observed.

Looking at these steps, it seems simple. However, when it comes to decision-making, it is necessary to consider potential doubts, limitations, postponements, anxieties, or any other type of behavior exhibited by the coachee. 

In this case, the coach asks the appropriate questions and examines what will be decided by the coachee. Bearing in mind that if the coachee chooses not to take any new action, that is also a decision, and it must be respected.

How about taking an inventory of your emotions? Do you feel up to the challenge?

Remembering that as phenomenological philosophy describes, we are never strictly this or that, but we can “become.” What will change are the phenomena that occur in our daily lives, whether common or uncommon, which—since we are social beings—can affect us and/or be affected by us.