Understand Your Emotions

Goal

To understand your emotions and how to more accurately describe them.

Neutral Observer (pp. 65-66)

Rather than trying to control what you think or feel, what if you could learn to see that you are merely having thoughts and experiencing emotions? Keep in mind that an emotion is simply a one word description of how you are feeling, such as anxious. A thought can be a description of your emotion-that is, putting it into words, such as “I feel anxious.” Emotions can be like clouds floating through the sky. You can simply notice them instead of embracing them or activating them.

Emotional Vocabulary Exercise

Instructions: Reflect on two problems you’ve faced recently and the emotions you were feeling at the time. Use the chart from the following link to determine what emotion you were feeling. Refer to the chart regularly to improve your emotional vocabulary. http://www.sba.pdx.edu/faculty/mblake/448/FeelingsList.pdf

Reflection (Optional)

Write your thoughts down to better understand this concept.