How Avoiding Labels Transforms Our Experience of Emotions

Jiddu Krishnamurti once said:

"The word is not the thing. The word 'fear' is not the same as fear itself. A feeling, when unnamed, is just a sensation, but when we label it, it becomes fear. The fact is not the word; it’s the label that turns the sensation into fear."

These words have profoundly impacted how I understand and experience emotions. Krishnamurti reminds us that there’s a fundamental difference between the raw sensation we feel and the labels we give them. His teachings have led me to explore how the act of naming emotions transforms them—and how, by not naming them, we can experience life more fully.

We live in two worlds: the factual world of sensations that our senses provide—sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste—and the world we create through thought, where we label and interpret those sensations. Thought itself is not the sensation. It is merely an attempt to explain or make sense of it.

In my personal experience, especially with emotions like fear or anger, I’ve noticed that the moment I name what I’m feeling, it seems to grow in intensity. But when I allow myself to just sit with the raw sensation—without naming or adding a story to it—it passes more naturally. The feeling is still there, but it doesn’t carry the same weight.

Take anger, for example. We’re often taught to suppress it, to hide it because it’s seen as negative. The moment I recognize anger, I instinctively try to control it, explain it, or justify it. But that only makes it linger. Krishnamurti’s insight taught me that by allowing the sensation to exist without naming it, I can observe it for what it is: a temporary feeling that will pass.

Emotions are, as I like to say, "energy in motion." By not naming and explaining every feeling, we give them space to move through us more freely. Focusing on the sensation itself—not the word or story behind it—can change how we experience life, moment by moment.

In our fast-paced work environments, we often rush to label our emotions—stress, frustration, anxiety. But what if we took a moment to just feel them without judgment? By not immediately naming them, we can find new ways to manage our emotions and improve our well-being.

How do you handle emotions in your daily life? Have you ever tried observing them without naming them?

Dimitrios