How do I label my emotions to confront "big" feelings?

Do you want to get insight into your emotional state?

Learn to label your emotions!

Disney characters jumping, with the words, I'm joy, this is sadness, that's anger, this is disugust, & that's fear

What Are Emotions?

Emotions are how you feel and react to things that happen around you.

Emotions are experienced deep in the brain in two main areas:

Frontal lobe
Temporal lobe

Diagram of a the brain showing the frontal lobe and temporal lobe.

Did you know?

Emotions are reactions that happen in the body activated through neurotransmitters and hormones released by the brain, whereas feelings are the conscious experience of emotional reactions.

How Do I Know I Am Experiencing An Emotion?

Recall the last time you felt a "big" emotion, maybe after a fight with a friend. Did you notice changes in your body?

Pupil dilation
Increased sweat
Changes in heart rate
Changes in your facial expression
Your body feels alert and engaged

A girl's head and eyes englarging. The head pops into small pieces.

How Does Labelling Emotions Help Me?

In so many ways...

Activates the readiness attention in your brain, so you can better focus on your goals
Reduces anxiety
Helps you to thrive effectively
Increases self-awareness
Helps you regulate and organize the primitive and emotional parts of your brain

A man sitting on a chair wearing a black robe. His eyes are closed. He brings his hand down and gathers his fingers.

Reveal Your BEST SELF

Labelling your emotions helps you with emotional agility.

Rather than allowing your thoughts and emotions to drive you in a negative way, labelling them encourages you to deal with emotions in a way that reveals your best self.

A woman has butterfly wings on her back. She floats. The words 'grow into who you want to be' appear next to her.

Quiz

Peter is angry that his roommate left a mess in the bathroom. Rather than allow his anger and frustration to boil over, he calmly speaks to his roommate about the problem. This is an example of:

Emotional agility

Thriving effectively

Activating readiness function

Reducing anxiety

Get Ready To Label Your Emotions!

Set a notification on your phone to 'check-in' with your emotions.

What you need:

Your phone (with a notes app); OR
A journal

3 questions to ask yourself:

How am I feeling? or What emotion am I feeling?
How do I know am feeling this way?
WHY am I feeling this way?

A girl writes in a red notebook. She leans against a door. She wears a purple top and pants, eye glasses, and yellow hairband

Tips & Tricks for labelling emotions:

Use Emojis! Choose an emoji that expresses how you feel & write 1 word to describe the feeling.
Use a Feelings Wheel to help you describe the emotion.

Did you know?

Did you know there are 27 distinct categories of emotions?

Take Action

Now, it is your turn!

Animated GIF

Check-in with your emotions once a day and record them

List ways emotion check-ins have improved your relationships with others

Talk to a friend about ways they can learn to label their emotions

How do I label my emotions to confront "big" feelings?

Do you want to get insight into your emotional state?

What Are Emotions?

Did you know?

How Do I Know I Am Experiencing An Emotion?

How Does Labelling Emotions Help Me?

Reveal Your BEST SELF

Quiz

Get Ready To Label Your Emotions!

What you need:

3 questions to ask yourself:

Tips & Tricks for labelling emotions:

Did you know?

Take Action

This Byte has been authored by

Amrita Gill