Episode Highlights:
- Tina describes novel as a "childlike sense of wonder" that becomes harder to cultivate as we age and get stuck in patterns, emphasizing the importance of actively seeking new experiences to foster innovation and creativity
- Heather distinguishes between encountering novel moments unexpectedly (like seeing a wild animal on a hike) and deliberately seeking them out (like watching "Love on the Spectrum" to better understand autism after meeting a colleague on the spectrum)
- Michelle highlights the key distinction that novel is "the delight in the unfamiliar rather than the discomfort of the unfamiliar," noting how travel provides excellent opportunities for experiencing novelty through different architecture, culture, language, and food
- The hosts note that when you identify you're feeling novel, the recommended action is simply to pause and recognize the positive aspects of the moment - the delight and enlightenment happening within the unknown experience
- Tina connects novel to humor, explaining that something must be novel (catching us by surprise) to be funny, and emphasizes that novel is an emotion you want others to "catch" from you, promoting a mindset of compassion when experiencing this childlike wonder
This episode of the #FeelingsMatter Podcast was recorded and produced at MSR Studios in Saint Paul, MN.Copyright 2025, all rights reserved. No reproduction, excerpting, or other use without written permission.
This episode is sponsored by
FeelWise - bridging the gap between reflection and resilience, offering practical tools to help people overcome obstacles, embrace change, and grow stronger emotionally. https://www.feel-wise.com/
Don’t miss a moment of the conversation, subscribe to the show on your favorite podcasting platform
Podcast theme music by Dubush Miaw from Pixabay
This episode of the #FeelingsMatter Podcast was recorded and produced at MSR Studios in Saint Paul, MN. No reproduction, excerpting, or other use without written permission.
This episode is sponsored by
FeelWise - bridging the gap between reflection and resilience, offering practical tools to help people overcome obstacles, embrace change, and grow stronger emotionally. https://www.feel-wise.com/
Don’t miss a moment of the conversation, subscribe to the show on your favorite podcasting platform
Episode Transcript
Do you have trouble talking about your feelings.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
You're not alone.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
It's a topic that can make even.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
The most powerful people somewhat squeamish.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
You're listening to Feelings Matter, where our mission is to
demystify everything about emotions so that we can all get
more comfortable in talking about them. Joining Heather, Tina and
Michelle as we unpack a new angle on emotions and
the psychology of human nature. Feelings Matter, Hello everyone, and
(00:43):
welcome to Feelings Matter.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
I'm Michelle Stinson Ross, and I'm Tedishweger and I'm Heather Hampton.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Novel is a sense of having no precedent, feeling that
something is completely new. Questions you can ask yourself to
know if you're feeling novel is are you feeling excited
or curious about something unfamiliar, or a joy or satisfaction
by charting uncharted territory, seeking out new experiences, or a
(01:18):
sense of wonder in awe when something you've never experienced
before is in front of you. The older we get,
the harder it is to cultivate a feeling of novelness
because we get stuck in our ruts, We get caught
in our patterns, and I think the older we get,
(01:38):
the more important it is to actively seek out a
feeling of novel. A feeling of novel, I think does
contribute to innovation and creativity and can help move things
along faster, because when you're feeling novel, you're seeing something novel.
(01:58):
It's making you get inspired possibly, and that repeated inspiration
from the outside can get us back to an epiphany
and have that light come from within. The novel is
like that childhood's sense of wonder. Our little feely for novel.
Speaker 6 (02:16):
Has wide eyes and the actual little character is strip
white and purple, and the white and purple stripes are unique,
the color is unique, and there's a little.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
Bit of fur on the backside. It really is intended
to capture that childlike sense of wonder for seeing something
for the first time. How is it you feel when
you see something for the first time that's novel? How
do you experience it?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Heather?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
There are the moments when you run into novel, and
then moments when I think you seek it out, at
least from my personal experience, like the moment when you're
on a height and you see that wild animal that
you've never seen in the wild before. And that's a
new experience and it feels a little bit magical, and
(03:09):
it just it sits with you as a really like
special moment to take notice of. And then I think
for me, like we were talking earlier about us like
being lifelong learners, I coming back from our conference was
very interested to get a better perspective on autism. One
(03:31):
of our colleagues is on the spectrum, and it was
wonderful working with her at the conference. And I just
came back and was thinking, the people that I know
that are on the spectrum are very high functioning, and
I would like to see what a better representation is
(03:51):
for people who are on the spectrum. And so I
just started watching Love on the Spectrum on Netflix, and
it has been absolutely delightful to watch all these people
putting themselves out there and the way that they prop
themselves up, the way that they set boundaries. I feel
(04:13):
like I could get the life a lot to learn
from them if it comes to dating. So that has
been like really good for me to reflect on my
own behaviors, but also just to get a better sense
of an experience that people have that I think we
all need to develop a little bit more sensitivity towards cool.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I think for me, especially like you said, Tina, as
we get to be older adults, it's a little bit
of a challenge to find novelty in your life, and
travel for me definitely still allows me to experience that
sense of novelty, to go someplace where the architecture is different,
(04:59):
the culture different, the language is different, the food is different.
Everything has an elevated sense of novelty when you travel,
and being able to embrace it rather than fear it.
So one of the things I.
Speaker 7 (05:13):
Want to call out is that novel is absolutely an embracing,
positive experience of the unfamiliar, the unknown. It does not
encompass any type of fear or trepidation. It is the
delight in the unfamiliar rather than the discomfort of the unfamiliar.
(05:39):
And I think sometimes our fear of the unknown gets
in the way of allowing us to really experience novelty
in our lives.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
I think that's a great distinction.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
Michelle, Awesome.
Speaker 7 (05:56):
I love novel, And it's funny because I'm looking at
what's the next action to take once you identify novel,
and at least on my card.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
The next step is to just pause to pause and
recognize it. Oh my gosh, I'm not afraid of this.
I'm actually experiencing some delight, some enlightenment. I'm like, there
are good things that are happening.
Speaker 7 (06:25):
In the midst of this novel moment, this unknown, something new.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I love it that.
Speaker 7 (06:33):
The next step, the action to take when novelty has
shown up in your life is ouse.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Andful tents into that novel. It is humor. Why is
it in humor? I think that's a really good question.
I think humor is novel by nature. Something has to
be novel in order for it to be funny, because
it has to catch you by surprise if it's going
(07:02):
to make you laugh. And I think that's where. That's
how that landed there. It may or may not be
the perfect place for it, but it's an eighty percent
good place, which is always good enough for a start.
Compassion when you're feeling novel like, a mindset of compassion
is a really good one to practice. It's a good
(07:22):
time to pay attention to those around you. Your feelings
and actions can not only help others, but they can
help you thrive as well. So it's one of those
feelings that it's so childlike sense of wonder. That is
an emotion you want other people to catch around you.
You want them to catch your sense of childlike wonder
(07:44):
and build the positive energy around you. Practice some compassion
or think about compassion when you're feeling a sense of novelty.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
Feelings matter is brought to you by feel wise. Most
people can identify three emotions sad, mad, and glad, but
there are.
Speaker 7 (08:12):
Over one hundred and fifty.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Six ways to truly express how you feel. Feel Wise
tools help.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
You build your emotional vocabulary and transform understanding into action.
Discover the language of emotions on the fuel wise website
at Bitley, slash feel wise that b I T dot
l y slash f e E.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
L WI s E feel wise. Turn emotional awareness into
your superpower.
Speaker 7 (09:16):
Un
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