Our immediate emotions about an event or happening usually sit on top of deeper currents of meaning, story, longing and commitments that may at first be obscured from view. If we want to become ever more active and intentional participants in our lives and relationships, there's much to be said then for first coming to know the emotion and then beginning to notice the commitments which lie underneath. This way we give ourselves an opportunity to cultivate something over time - a purposeful way of knowing ourselves and using that knowledge for the very practical purpose of being the person we each want to be. How might we begin to approach this inquiry and the new kinds of action that come from it?

This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction to Turning Towards Life
02:51 Exploring Emotions vs. Feelings
05:58 The Complexity of Human Experience
08:50 The Role of Reflection in Understanding
11:56 Parenting and Emotional Awareness
15:08 The Importance of Feeling in Relationships
18:02 Navigating Emotions and Feelings
20:45 The Journey of Self-Discovery
24:04 Honoring Influential Voices
30:05 Conclusion and Reflections

Here’s our source for this week:

The Feeling Beneath the Feeling

"What was my feeling in that situation — not my emotions, my feeling? My emotions may support my feeling, but emotions are affective responses determined by complexes, momentary reactions to an immediate situation. Feeling, on the other hand, evaluates what something is worth to me."

Marion Woodman

Photo by Ismael Paramo on Unsplash

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Join Us Live in 2025

Turning Towards Life Live Season 1, from September 2025
We also have the launch of our Turning Towards Life live programme which is going to run in six month seasons from September. It's going to be in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice. You can register your interest for Season 1 of Turning Towards Life Live here.

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About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google, Amazon Music and Spotify.

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Keywords
feeling versus emotion, emotional complexity, beneath the beneath, reflective living, what matters deeply, belonging longing, momentary reactions, personal complexes, evaluating worth, emotional flooding, parenting emotions, feeling towards, working with feelings, emotional skillfulness, writing practice, conversation practice, underneath layers, fear and anger, grief processing, lifelong inquiry, emotional courage, welcoming feelings, feeling fully, emotional determination, reactive responses, deep currents