How Do You Feel?

I don’t wanna think, I wanna feel. How do I feel? How do I feel? How do I? -Pearl Jam, song “Hail, Hail”

This excellent article points out that asking and answering one simple question can change your emotional state. Furthermore, merely attempting to answer it can boost your happiness. Wow. That’s pretty cool.

The question is…”How do you feel?”

Psychologists call it “affect labelling.” I’ll let you read the article as to why exactly this is and how it all works.

But it got me wondering…It’s really hard to pinpoint how we’re feeling. How we want to feel. Or how we want those whom we care about to feel.

Similarly, if you’re an actor, it’s really freakin’ hard to answer these questions when breaking down a script.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it the old college try. Especially knowing the value lies in the attempt.