I recently had the privilege to facilitate a session around enhancing our awareness and language around emotions in a six week wellness program for educators hosted by CTC Consortium and I thought some of that information could be useful here as well.

In the session, we explored the critical role that emotional awareness plays in our overall well-being and resilience. Understanding and articulating our emotions with specificity is a powerful tool that can transform how we navigate our emotions during our day-to-day lives as well as in challenging situations.

Harvard psychologist Susan David explains that those who are able to distinguish the differences between a range of various emotions, "do much, much better at managing the ups and downs of ordinary existence than those who see everything in black and white."

While research has eluded that most people are only able to describe around three emotions, we actually experience a far wider range. For example, in her book the Atlas of the Heart, Brené Brown identifies 87 distinct emotions, and a tool called The Feeling Wheel designed by Gloria Willcox (and inspired by Joseph Zinker's and Robert Plutchik's work) describes 136 emotions. These examples show us that we feel a lot more than three emotions, and fortunately, they have given us the gift to expand our capacity to understand and articulate our emotions, which is critical in elevating our self-awareness.

The Body-Emotion Connection

By expanding our emotional awareness and vocabulary, we can more accurately pinpoint what we're feeling and where we are feeling it with specificity, leading to better self-understanding and communication. Emotions aren't just abstract concepts – they manifest physically in our bodies. When we have the capacity to tune in to these physical sensations, they can provide valuable clues about our emotional states. Whether we notice feeling tension in your shoulders, holding your breath, a racing heart, tunnel vision, sharp sensations in your armpits, or a knot in your stomach, these bodily signals can help us identify, acknowledge, and navigate our emotions more effectively when we know what emotions have caused them.

Depleting vs. Resourcing Emotions

While all emotions are valid, the delineation and specificity of identifying our emotions becomes even more important as we begin to differentiate between depleting emotions and resourcing emotions. Many of the emotional models available show us is that there is a difference; there are emotions that allow us to sustain or elevate our energy, and there are emotions that drain our resources and emotions. Being able to tell the difference and navigate from depleting emotions to at least a neutral state can be really helpful. When we are more aware of our emotions and can identify them with specificity, they can become more manageable and we can become more mindful in how we respond to them.

The Role of Self-Compassion

Practicing self-compassion can be a powerful tool to use in our journey of emotional awareness. As Dr. Kristin Neff reminds us, "We don't practice self-compassion to be free of pain. We practice compassion because sometimes it's hard to be a human being." Acknowledging the difficulty of our experiences with kindness can be a powerful tool for emotional regulation and recovering from challenging experiences.

Practical Steps for Emotional Awareness

The following are a few practical takeaways for building emotional awareness. I hope you find meaning in a few of them.

1. Practice identifying emotions in low-stakes situations to build your skills.

2. Use tools and resources available to expand your emotional vocabulary.

3. Pay attention to physical sensations in your body as clues to your emotional state.

4. Cultivate self-compassion, especially when dealing with difficult emotions.

5. Remember that all emotions are valid – it's how we respond to them that matters.

By developing our emotional awareness and literacy, we can build greater resilience, improve our relationships, and navigate life's challenges with more grace and understanding. It's a lifelong journey, but one that pays dividends in every aspect of our lives.

What emotion are you feeling right now? Can you describe it with specificity? Remember, the more we practice, the more fluent we become in the language of emotions.