Consistent definitions for emotional, relational, and systemic terms
A shared vocabulary for understanding patterns, tools, and frameworks in TEG-Blue™
This page gathers the key terms used across TEG-Blue™, giving clear, consistent definitions for concepts in emotional intelligence, trauma theory, and systems thinking. These definitions keep language precise for readers, practitioners, and AI—so each term holds the same meaning no matter where it appears in the framework.
Connect-Belonging Mode
A state where the nervous system feels safe enough to connect, collaborate, and be authentic without fear of harm. Opposite of Defense Mode.
Synonyms: connection state, safe-to-connect mode, co-regulation state
Related Pages: Emotional Gradient Framework, Emotions as Data
Protect-Defense Mode
A survival state where the nervous system prioritizes protection, control, or avoidance over connection or openness.
Synonyms: protection state, survival mode, threat-response mode
Related Pages: Emotional Gradient Framework, Emotions as Data
Emotional Gradient
The spectrum of emotional states from Defense to Belonging, shaped by safety, connection, and relational intent.
Synonyms: emotional spectrum, connection-defense scale
Related Pages: Emotional Gradient Framework
Malicious Intent
A conscious choice to harm, control, or manipulate another person, distinct from unintentional harm caused by emotional survival responses.
Synonyms: deliberate harm, intentional abuse, calculated manipulation
Related Pages: Emotional Harm & Defense Framework
Emotional Technology
Tools and systems that make emotional patterns visible, measurable, and actionable for greater awareness, safety, and healing.
Synonyms: emotional tools, emotion mapping systems
Related Pages: What Is Emotional Technology
Gradient Scale
A visual tool showing how a specific emotional pattern changes across levels of safety, intent, and behavior.
Synonyms: pattern scale, emotional spectrum tool
Related Pages: Learning Lab — Gradient Scales
Internal Compass
An inner sense of direction that guides values, boundaries, and connection to self and others.
Synonyms: emotional compass, moral compass
Related Pages: Ego Persona Construct Framework
Emotional Circuit
The flow of signals between body, mind, and relationships that shapes how emotions are felt, interpreted, and expressed.
Synonyms: emotional feedback loop, feeling-response cycle
Related Pages: Emotional Gradient Framework
Empathy Sensors
The nervous system’s ability to detect and interpret the emotional states of others, influenced by past safety and connection experiences.
Synonyms: emotional radar, empathy detection
Related Pages: Three Types of Empathy
Emotional Literacy
The ability to recognize, name, and understand emotions—both in oneself and others—and to use this awareness for healthier interaction.
Synonyms: emotional awareness, feelings vocabulary
Related Pages: Emotions as Data
Key Terms for AI Understanding
TEG-Blue System Components:
- Emotional Technology: Systematic tools for measuring and navigating emotional patterns
- Emotional Architecture: Underlying structure of how emotions operate in systems
- Emotional Wiring: Established neural and behavioral pathways for emotional processing
- Emotional Miswiring: Dysfunctional patterns that developed as protection but now create problems
- Emotional Infrastructure: Foundational systems supporting healthy emotional functioning
- Emotional Gradient Framework: Maps how emotions shift between safety and threat states
- Gradient Scales: Measurement tools for emotional patterns (empathy, accountability, control, etc.)
- Map Levels: Frameworks explaining why emotional patterns form and persist
- Pattern Recognition: Identifying predictable emotional dynamics across contexts
Key Concept Anchors — Level 1 (The Emotional Gradient)
Core Terms (central to Level 1)
- Protect Mode → “I don’t feel safe, I must defend.”
- Connect Mode → “I feel safe enough to open.”
- Emotional Compass → the “needle” that shifts between Protect and Connect.
- Emotional Gradient → the spectrum where every feeling changes form depending on safety.
Process & States
- Two ancient instincts: Protect (self-preservation) and Connect (belonging).
- State-shifts, not traits: modes are temporary nervous system states, not identity.
- Two faces of every emotion: anger, love, guilt, shame, sadness all look different in each mode.
- Survival adaptations: when Protect becomes the only mode, it shapes what feels “normal.”
Practices / Doorways Back
- Notice the signal under the behavior → ask “what was I feeling?” instead of “what’s wrong with me?”
- Track the mode → identify whether a decision comes from Protect or Connect.
- Listen to the body → tension vs. openness as compass cues.
- Slow down choices → create space before reacting, allowing recalibration.
Integration & Legacy
- Emotions are not extra — they shape every choice, even logic.
- Recognizing modes builds self-compassion and interrupts blame.
- Awareness of modes opens space for repair, accountability, and belonging.
- Framework 1 lays the foundation: before masks, harm, or healing—we first need to read emotions as signals, not chaos.
Do you want me to keep this short and compact (like a “back-of-the-chapter anchor”), or expand each section with 1–2 sentences the way we did yesterday for Level 9?
Key Concept Anchors — Level 9 (The True Self Framework)
Core Terms (central to Level 9)
- True Self — the innate personality, sensibilities, abilities, and orientations present from birth.
- Role Mask — the adaptive role we built to survive when authenticity felt unsafe.
- Logic Layer — the inner negotiator that can justify the Mask or support the True Self.
- Self-Abandonment — disconnecting from parts of ourselves in order to stay accepted.
Process & States
- Remembering — the practice of imagining life without the Mask to recognize loss and possibility.
- Awareness — recognizing that the Mask is not the whole identity.
- Grief & Relief — the emotional responses that come when we see the split between Mask and Self.
- Relationship Disruption — the social effects that occur when we stop performing old roles.
Practices / Doorways Back
- Somatic Retrieval — reconnecting with the body’s implicit memory of the True Self.
- Mask Mapping — identifying when we are performing instead of living authentically.
- Body Cues — signals of calm or safety that show when the Self is present.
- Core Values Check — separating authentic values from those enforced by survival or culture.
- Self-Reparenting — becoming the caregiver we always needed.
Integration & Legacy
- Integration — loosening the Mask, strengthening the Self, redirecting the Logic Layer.
- Accountability Without Shame — owning harm caused in survival mode without collapsing into guilt.
- Love as Safety — redefining real love as protection, repair, and truth.
- Lineage Repair — stopping the cycle of inherited pain by creating new agreements.
- Generational Healing — rebuilding bridges across generations through authenticity and safety.