Basic emotion
Fear
Fear gets you ready for danger: it speeds up your heart, sharpens your attention and pushes you to run or freeze. Its mild form, anxiety, responds even to imagined threats in the future. Fear helps when it is proportionate and gets in the way when it fires without cause.
From mild to intense
Anxiety
MildWhat it signals
A background hum of watchfulness. Useful in small doses, resource-draining in big ones. Often lives in the body as tension in shoulders and jaw.
What to do with it
Body first. The 5-4-3-2-1 grounding: name 5 things you see, 4 you hear, 3 you feel on skin, 2 smells, 1 taste. It pulls you back into the present.
Fear
BaseWhat it signals
It says: “something ahead could cause harm.” Not an enemy, a scout. The skill is to listen to it, not mute it.
What to do with it
Name the fear in words: what exactly am I afraid of, what's the worst that could happen. Naming it often noticeably lowers the intensity. Not magic: that's how the amygdala works.
Terror
IntenseWhat it signals
The signal of a critical threat, real or felt. The body demands immediate action: run, freeze, or fight.
What to do with it
Terror usually moves through the body, not words. Cold water on the hands, 4-7-8 breathing, shifting the gaze to distant objects. Afterward, reach out to someone close or a specialist.
The opposite emotion
Across the wheel stands anger. Opposite feelings are hard to feel at the same time, and one often helps make sense of the other.