Some days you just feel "bad." The word covers a lot. Under one "bad" can hide many different feelings. You might be angry. Or scared. Or tired. Or lonely. Those feel different in the body. But "bad" blurs them together.
Sources
Matthew Lieberman et al., "Putting Feelings Into Words," Psychological Science, 2007
Torre & Lieberman, "Putting Feelings Into Words: Affect Labeling as Implicit Emotion Regulation," Emotion Review, 2018
Lisa Feldman Barrett, How Emotions Are Made (2017)
Kashdan, Barrett & McKnight, "Unpacking Emotion Differentiation: Transforming Unpleasant Experience by Perceiving Distinctions in Negativity," Current Directions in Psychological Science 24(1), 10-16, 2015 — https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0963721414550708 (cited in-text on section 38 but missing from the list; it is the source for every item in that sort)
Rivers, Brackett, Reyes, Elbertson & Salovey, "Improving the Social and Emotional Climate of Classrooms: A Clustered Randomized Controlled Trial Testing the RULER Approach," Prevention Science 14(1), 77-87, 2013 — https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11121-012-0305-2 (the 62-school, ~4,000-student trial on section 39)
UCLA Health newsroom, "Putting Feelings Into Words Produces Therapeutic Effects in the Brain," 2007 — https://www.uclahealth.org/news/release/putting-feelings-into-words-produces-therapeutic-effects-in-the-brain-ucla-neuroimaging-study-supports-ancient-buddhist-teachings (actual source of the "hitting the brakes" quote used on sections 9 and 14)
Daniel J. Siegel & Tina Payne Bryson, The Whole-Brain Child, 2011 — source of "name it to tame it" (section 11)
Kircanski, Lieberman & Craske, "Feelings Into Words: Contributions of Language to Exposure Therapy," Psychological Science 23, 1086-1091, 2012 — the training evidence behind section 42
Pond, Kashdan, DeWall, Savostyanova, Lambert & Fincham, "Emotion differentiation buffers aggressive behavior in angered people: A daily diary analysis," Emotion 12, 326-337, 2012 — the aggression item on section 38
Kashdan, DeWall, Masten, Pond et al., "Who is most vulnerable to social rejection? The toxic combination of low self-esteem and lack of emotion differentiation on neural responses to rejection," PLoS ONE 9(3): e90651, 2014 — the rejection item on section 38
Hayes, Strosahl & Wilson, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, 1999 — origin of "cognitive defusion" (section 23)
Read end to end and corrected: August 10, 2026. Numbers checked: August 10, 2026.