Emotions · Clusters

Approach-positive

Valence — these share a direction (toward / away) more than a felt shape.

Emotions of moving-toward. Their valence is positive and their structure is open: the self leans into the world rather than away. They differ by what's being approached (a person, a felt-state, a recognition, a registered gift) and by the depth of the contact.

← All clusters · All primary emotions

Core

Sits squarely in this cluster

Joy
Acute, often surprising; a peak. Doesn't need an object exactly — a state more than a relation.
Love
Sustained orientation toward a specific other. Encompasses the cluster's other registers when applied to a person.
Tenderness
Soft, protective, often somatic. Carries a hand-on-shoulder quality; less peak than continuous warmth.
Gratitude
Recognition of having been given. Implies a giver and a registered debt-of-meaning, not necessarily action.
Contentment
Approach without reaching — a settled positive baseline. The most often missed of the cluster because it doesn't ask to be noticed.

Adjacent

Brushes against this cluster but lives more centrally elsewhere

Images carrying these

A grid drawn from across the cluster — each image has been attested as carrying one of the member emotions, by curator pairing or by readers using Connect. The chip notes which emotion surfaced the image.