How to feelings???

[resolute]

Apparently many people can identify that they are having a feeling by noticing changes in their body. I mean, obviously, yes, extreme emotion breaks through intended rational affect in this way, of course. But I'm not talking about that, I mean, like, people can both notice and IDENTIFY very slight emotions.

Is there a key? A cheat sheet? A guide? Some sort of spreadsheet or data set or, or, I don't know, a sticker-bedecked vision board? Something, ANYTHING, that just lists out physical symptoms and matches them with the correct emotion?

You know, like:

Eyebrows are itchy = mild sadness resulting from listening to music
Fingers are restless = slight interest in surrounding events
Spontaneous rapid blinking = growing vexation

I beg of you, if you know of a key, please link to it in the comments. I feel that everyone else has a map, and I have a faded vellum scroll with tiny marks on it and no way to interpret them.

Comments

[elisem]

There's a place on my back where tension happens when I am feeling anxiety, but I only usually notice it when I feel it relax later and realize then that I had been anxious about something earlier. Which is not helpful other than a confirmation that it's not happening any more right now.

There's a connection between (symptoms of shock) and (extreme dismay) but it usually only tells me something obvious already.

I have at least managed to pick up a habit of saying "I don't know what I even feel about this, and it will probably be at least tomorrow until I make sense of it," in situations where people know me enough to know that I'm quite serious about that. Which doesn't help me know it faster, but at least reduces a little of the stress on all of us and means I don't have to cast about for an immediate Correct (and Final) Answer About How I Feel About X.

Wish I had something more useful to offer.