Emotions are like the weather. There's the big picture ie the overall emotional climate; and there's the small picture, ie the day to day forecast that changes, sometimes moment by moment. When someone rings and asks "how is s/he feeling right now?" they are not going to get a good answer, because that encourages the reader to focus on the short term forecast. Phone again in an hour and the answer can be completely different, because that's the nature of the emotions. A better question to ask is "what's the underlying emotional climate of the relationship?" That way, you'll get the big picture, not the ever changing up's and down's.

Human beings have an amazing capacity to flip flop between hope and despair, between loving and hateful, between anger and calm. Some people's emotional weather is a lot more changeable than others. When asking about feelings, it is always wise to remember this, and look to the long term forecast, not the daily report!