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The Eight Feelings
Sadness, hurt, loneliness, anger, fear, shame, guilt, and glad. Eight feelings, and everything a person experiences grows out of them.
Why only eight?
The number sounds rigid until you consider how much can be built from a small set. There are three primary colors — and with them, you can paint a world. There are a limited number of musical notes, and we still haven’t exhausted the symphonies that can be written from them.
Unless you know the eight, you’re no better off than a painter who doesn’t know the primary colors.
Feelings work the same way. Eight of them cover an enormous range — a multitude of experiences, and millions of words to describe them. They are the tools we’re given to live fully in a world that is often hard.
Each one has a purpose. Each one, when we let it do its work, leads somewhere. And each one can be distorted, avoided, or shut down — which is usually what brings a person to counseling in the first place.
Explore each feeling
Read the full article, or watch the short teaching from the Navigating Feelings series. They stand on their own — start wherever you like.
Sadness
The valuing feeling. It brings honor to what mattered, and over time it opens the way to acceptance.
Hurt
Perhaps the feeling we spend the most energy avoiding — and the one that tells us something mattered.
Loneliness
The feeling that points us toward connection, and toward being known as we actually are.
Anger
The most vulnerable feeling. It grows out of caring, and it exists to move us toward what matters.
Fear
Given to us to set us up for anger — and, followed honestly, the birthplace of faith.
Shame
The feeling about who we are. Healthy shame keeps us human; toxic shame is contempt for being human.
Guilt
The feeling about what we do. It follows an action against our own heart, and it calls us to return.
Glad
The feeling most people never quite let themselves receive — and the one that makes the rest worth having.
Where this framework comes from
The eight-feelings framework originates with Dr. Chip Dodd in his book The Voice of the Heart. Sage Hill Counseling uses this framework in its work with permission and gratitude.
The articles here are drawn from conversations with Dr. Dodd recorded on the Sage Hill Live Fully Podcast, edited for readability. They are an introduction to the framework, not a substitute for the book — or for working with a therapist.
Learning your feelings with someone alongside you
Reading about the feelings is a beginning. Living them out is usually work we do with help.
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