Joy
Savoring, play, achievement, and release.
How Feltwork works
Find your
starting point.
You might want to understand a feeling, reflect on an experience, or think through a decision. Feltwork offers a different set of questions for each. Read the guides here before you sign in.
Before you begin.
Allow about five to ten quiet minutes, or take the time you need. A few words are enough. There is no need to finish every writing prompt or reach a perfect answer.
- Choose an entry type
Sign in and choose “Begin a new entry.” Pick the path that fits what you want to explore today; it does not label you or your experience.
- Write at your own pace
Use Continue to move forward and Back to revisit a step. Leave any writing prompt blank, or pause and return to the unfinished entry on this device.
- Save when ready
Choose “Save reflection” to add the entry to your journal. On the web, each entry type has its own draft. Starting over replaces only the selected type after confirmation.
These guides describe the three web entry types. Guided Reflection is also available in the current iPhone app.
Check in with a feeling
Guided Reflection
5–10 minutes, or your own pace
When to use it When a feeling or recurring thought is taking up space.
A guided check-in that connects a feeling with a specific moment, the thoughts around it, and a more balanced response. It uses CBT-style questions to help you consider the situation from more than one angle.
For example After a conversation, you keep wondering whether you said the wrong thing.
How to use it
- Name the feeling
Choose a broad family in the Emotion Map, narrow it to a word that fits, and rate its intensity. “Hard to name” is a valid starting point.
- Stay with one moment
Describe what happened, what went through your mind, and what followed in your body or actions. A few words in each box are enough.
- Look for a wider view
Consider what supports your first thought and what points to another explanation. Aim for a believable view of the situation.
- Choose a small response
Write a balanced thought and one manageable next step that is within your control.
- Review and save
Read back your entry, change anything you want, then choose “Save reflection” to add it to your journal.
You do not have to talk yourself out of a feeling or make every answer positive.
Choose an entry on the webMake sense of an experience
Experience Integration
5–10 minutes, or your own pace
When to use it When a meaningful experience leaves you with something to reflect on.
A place to revisit an experience, notice what stays with you, and consider how it connects with everyday life. You decide what feels meaningful and what you would rather leave open.
For example After a retreat, a milestone, or an important conversation, you want time to understand what stays with you.
How to use it
- Begin when you feel settled
Confirm that you feel ready to reflect, then use the Emotion Map to name a feeling you notice now.
- Remember what you want to keep
Write about a moment, image, or question that stands out, or tap Add a sketch to open a separate drawing screen. Open Colors or Tools when you need them, then tap Done drawing to return and add an optional caption. You can leave out difficult details and skip any prompt.
- Notice and explore
Check in with how you are now. Consider possible connections with your life while leaving room for uncertainty and other explanations.
- Carry one thing forward
Choose a small, gentle step or a reminder you want to keep. You can note who might support you and when to revisit the entry.
- Review and save
Keep what feels useful today. Save your reflection when you are ready; you do not need a complete explanation.
Take the time you need. A note to revisit the entry does not set a reminder.
Choose an entry on the webFind your next step
Decision Clarity
5–10 minutes, or your own pace
When to use it When you are unsure what to do and want to think through your options.
A structured way to explore a choice, what matters to you, what you know, and what you still need to learn. It starts with the decision itself. A feelings check is optional, and there is no emotion wheel or intensity rating.
For example You are considering a new commitment and want to weigh it against your time, energy, and priorities.
How to use it
- Name the decision and options
Describe the choice in front of you. List the possibilities, including waiting or gathering information when those are real options.
- Consider what matters
Describe what you really want to happen and why it matters to you. Consider your needs, values, and commitments. Open the optional feelings check if it would help, or leave it closed.
- Look at what you know
Consider the benefits, costs, and practical limits of your options. Separate known facts from assumptions and unanswered questions.
- Find a manageable next step
Notice where you are leaning, if anywhere. Choose one useful action, such as asking a question or trying something reversible.
- Review and save
Save a snapshot of your thinking, even if the decision is still open. You can return after you have had more time or learned something new.
You remain the decision-maker. Finishing the entry does not require a final answer.
Choose an entry on the webThe Emotion Map.
Guided Reflection and Experience Integration begin with the map. Decision Clarity starts with the decision and offers an optional feelings-writing prompt instead. An emotion wheel is a vocabulary aid, not a test. Related words are grouped so you can begin broadly and move toward language that feels closer. There is no objectively correct answer; choose the closest available word.
- Choose a family
Start with the broad signal that feels nearest—even if several could fit.
- Notice its shape
Choose how that signal seems to be showing up in this particular moment.
- Find a word
Select the closest felt-state word, then record its intensity from 1 to 10.
Nine ways in.
Eight families offer recognizable starting points. “Hard to name” is an equally valid route for mixed, numb, foggy, or detached experiences.
Connection
Closeness, belonging, trust, and care.
Fear
Danger, uncertainty, exposure, and too much.
Surprise
Jolt, discovery, disorientation, and disbelief.
Sadness
Loss, distance, letdown, and depletion.
Disgust
Physical recoil, distrust, value conflict, and self-directed discomfort.
Anger
Being blocked, wronged, intruded upon, or mobilized.
Interest
Exploring, preparing, hoping, and becoming absorbed.
Hard to name
Mixed, numb, foggy, and detached are not failures of emotional awareness. Sometimes uncertainty is the most accurate description available.
What is CBT journaling?
CBT stands for cognitive behavioral therapy. One of its practical tools is a thought record: a structured way to slow down a difficult moment and notice how the situation, your interpretation, your emotions, your body, and your actions influenced one another.
The purpose
Our first interpretation can feel like a fact, especially when emotion is strong. Writing the parts separately can make the pattern easier to see and create room for other plausible explanations.
- Name one observable situation.
- Capture the automatic thought without judging it.
- Notice the emotional, physical, and behavioral impact.
- Compare evidence that supports the thought with evidence it may have missed.
- Write a balanced response you can genuinely believe and choose one manageable next step.
A short example
- Moment
- I sent a message this morning and had not received a reply by evening.
- Automatic thought
- “They are upset with me. I must have done something wrong.”
- Impact
- Worried, tight chest, repeatedly checking my phone.
- A wider view
- The late reply is real, but there was no conflict and they often have busy days.
- Balanced response
- “I do not know why they have not replied. I can wait until tomorrow before deciding what it means.”
A balanced thought should be realistic and believable, not cheerful for its own sake.
The journal does not decide whether a feeling or thought is right or wrong. It helps you examine it with more context.
Feltwork is guided self-reflection, not therapy, diagnosis, treatment, or crisis monitoring.
The ideas behind Guided Reflection.
Guided Reflection follows that thought-record logic after you choose an emotion. Experience Integration and Decision Clarity use their own questions, described above.
Situation
Describe what happened in observable terms.
First thought
Capture the immediate thought and any deeper meaning or prediction.
What followed
Notice body reactions and what you did or felt pulled to do.
Wider view
Consider what makes the thought seem true and what suggests another explanation.
Next step
Write a believable balanced response and one useful action.
Sources and boundaries.
Emotion models are useful lenses, not universally agreed maps of the mind. Language, culture, context, and the body all affect how a feeling is understood.
What informed it
The broad ideas of emotion families and intensity were informed by Robert Plutchik’s psychoevolutionary model. The wider history of vocabulary wheels includes Gloria Willcox’s 1982 Feeling Wheel. The Feltwork vocabulary, groupings, and navigation are a newly constructed selection and arrangement rather than a reproduction of either wheel or their later adaptations.
The journaling sequence is informed by commonly used CBT thought-record exercises.
Development status
The Feltwork Emotion Map is currently version 1. It is a vocabulary and reflection aid—not a diagnostic instrument or clinical assessment—and it has not yet undergone independent clinical validation.
- A clinician review is planned before claims beyond self-reflection are made.
- Language will be revised with tester and accessibility feedback.
- Feltwork does not monitor journal entries for emergencies.
- Robert Plutchik, “A psychoevolutionary theory of emotions”
- Gloria Willcox, “The Feeling Wheel” — historical context
- NHS Every Mind Matters, “Thought record”
- Public-domain diagram of Plutchik’s model on Wikimedia Commons
