Theme & Story
“How I Feel” is a simple, uplifting song about using the senses to experience the world and understand emotions. The speaker looks, hears, smells, touches, and tastes many things: birds, music, flowers, rain, a cat’s fur, grass, sugar, and salt. These everyday experiences help them feel connected to life.
The song also teaches that feelings can change. The speaker feels happy, strong, sad, shy, excited, bored, angry, and calm. Instead of saying negative emotions are bad, the lyrics show that all feelings are part of learning and growing.
Metaphors & Meaning
- “My heart is beating fast and slow” suggests changing emotions. A fast heartbeat can mean excitement, fear, or nervousness; a slow heartbeat can suggest calmness or sadness.
- “That is how I learn and grow” means that experiences and emotions help a person mature.
- “The world is in the palm of my hand” is an idiom. It means the speaker feels powerful, curious, and full of possibility, as if the whole world is available to explore.
- “My mind is open, my mind is free” means the speaker is ready to learn, imagine, and become many different things.
- “There is so much for me to be” expresses hope and potential: the speaker can grow into many possible versions of themselves.
- feel: to experience an emotion or physical sensation. Example: “I feel happy.” / “I feel the grass.”
- senses: the ways we experience the world: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
- dew: small drops of water that appear on grass or plants in the morning.
- belong: to feel accepted or included in a group or place.
- give a try: to attempt something, even if it is difficult. More natural everyday English is “give it a try.”
- beneath my feet: under my feet.
- palm of my hand: the inside part of the hand; in the idiom, it suggests control or possibility.
- calm: peaceful, not angry or nervous.
- The song uses many sentences with “I + verb”, which is excellent for beginners:
- “I look…”
- “I see…”
- “I hear…”
- “I smell…”
- “I touch…”
- “I taste…”
- It also repeats the useful structure “I feel + adjective”:
- “I feel happy.”
- “I feel strong.” This pattern is very common in English for emotions and states.
- Questions with “Is it…” are repeated:
- “Is it loud?”
- “Is it quiet?”
- “Is it hard?”
- “Is it soft?” These are simple yes/no questions using the verb to be.
- “Sometimes I’m sad, sometimes I’m shy” shows how to use sometimes to describe things that happen occasionally.
- “I will always give a try” uses will for determination or promise. A more standard phrase would be “I will always give it a try.” Lyrics sometimes omit small words to keep rhythm.
- “Happy, sad, brave and free. Just me.” is not a full sentence, but it works poetically. Songs often use fragments for emotional effect.
There are no strong cultural references here. The song is universal and learner-friendly, focusing on feelings, senses, and everyday experiences.