THE GRAMMAR OF THE SOUL: A DICTIONARY OF THE FEELINGS WE CANNOT NAME

I always know when the Christmas season is near.

- MONIQUE TODA

It is not because of the mall décor that appears overnight, nor the Jose Mari Chan memes that invade my timelines, or even the cheerful carols echoing through every public space.I recognize the holidays by a feeling that slowly creeps up on me, a sensation I cannot quite name. It is part excitement, part stress, part happiness, part sadness, and part loneliness. I have felt this strange emotional cocktail for years. When I mentioned it to friends recently, they nodded in recognition. They also have their own Christmas feelings — each one unique, deeply personal, and almost impossible to describe.

It made me think about the countless emotions we carry that do not fit neatly into simple labels like happy, sad, angry, content, frustrated, or hurt. Language often fails us as we try to describe a complex emotion. But as we grow older and hopefully wiser, we begin to understand what I like to call the grammar of the soul.

Here is an imperfect attempt to give shape to the shapeless. It is a small lexicon inspired by psychologists, poets, philosophers, online creators, and the emotionally curious, including myself. Consider it a multilingual dictionary for the days when we need clarity and self-understanding.

Part excitement, part stress, part sadness, and part loneliness. I have felt this strange emotional cocktail for years.

Echo grief. The soft aftershock of loss. The sorrow that resurfaces long after the wound has closed — a grief that does not crash but gently reverberates. It is the song you were not ready to hear, the scent that unlocks a memory, the photograph that startles you. Echo grief is not the original heartbreak. It is the quieter, deeper tremor that proves love never truly leaves; it simply changes its frequency.