How We Feel
About a month ago my friend told me about an app called "How We Feel", which is a journal for your feelings. A few times a day you check in and select what you are feeling in that moment.
During this time I have used it every day and it's been an interesting experience. Of course it's made me think about my own feelings more; asking yourself exactly how you are feeling at any given moment is harder than you think. That's why it's helpful seeing all the various feelings laid out, with an explanation for them, in front of you.
The thing that I am most fascinated by is the sharing aspects. I think we've all, at some point, been asked: "How are you today?" To which we have replied: "Good" (hint: we weren't "good"). As a society we have a harder time discussing feelings than we should. Especially men have this view of "showing emotions bad" when we should all be more like Aragorn in a sense.
That's where this app really shines to me. We live in a world where we are seeing a massive shift in how we engage socially. Friendships have moved online; we don't talk in person or with voice, we text. We are also seeing friend groups shrink and those friends we have we see less and less. It's hard to know how the other person is actually doing.
While I think that we have larger societal structures to change in order for us to live happier as humans, this does help me feel in touch with friends a bit more, which is nice.
Oh and it's a service run by scientists with no intention of profiting off your data. Instead you support them by donating, do consider that.