The Ten steps to improve your Emotional Self-Awareness Use the Feelings Wheel along with the questions on the opposite side of this sheet to help you think about your emotions, feelings, thoughts, needs and how they impact you and your relationships – Dr. We have to be willing to listen to the wisdom they sometimes contain.Printer-Friendly PDF – Ten steps to improve your Emotional Self-Awareness using the Emotions and Feelings Wheel by Dr Ken McGill Try not to judge feelings, but make friends with all of them.Įmotions are signals that are trying to give us valuable information. You may also be feeling happy but avoiding any of the feelings of sadness. Anger is sometimes triggered by something we fear. ![]() Maybe you are feeling some sadness, but you’re also irritated (anger) and disappointed (surprise).Įmotions are not always simple they can be complex mixtures of several different feelings.Īnother way to use the wheel is once you have settled on a name (or several) for what you are feeling, look across the wheel at the opposite side and ask yourself, “Am I reacting to something over there?” Disgust can be a reaction to a lack or loss of trust. This is a good approach when you find it hard to label your feeling as just one thing, like “sad”. Start around the outside and move around the wheel either clockwise or counterclockwise and see what word (or words) focus your attention. This method is what I call general to specific.Ī second approach is to let your eyes virtually “spin” the wheel. You can do the same thing with happy or trust, especially as part of a gratitude practice. You can then move from the inside of the wheel toward the outside looking for a more specific word that captures what you’re feeling. Finally, listening to others and tuning into their feelings is a powerful form of empathy.Ī good feelings wheel is a versatile tool.įirst, you can use scan the basic eight emotions and ask if what you’re feeling comes close to any of these. We generate more motivation when we accurately identify the emotional blocks that make us grow discouraged. Greater awareness and naming emotions leads to better self regulation. Some of the key parts of emotional intelligence like self awareness, self control, motivation and social awareness involve accurately naming emotions.īeing able to sense and name what we are feeling contributes to self-awareness. This leads to better management of emotions as well. Therapists and clinicians will readily tell you that clients who learn to grow their emotional vocabulary are usually better able to start noticing and naming their emotions. ![]() ![]() I needed to explore and become friendly again with what I was actually feeling. Well into mid-life, I had to reassess and admit that I had picked up some unhealthy emotional habits. Over time I grew less sensitive and I also tended to intellectualize emotions. Being an adult, becoming a parent, assuming responsibilities that include leading other people all made me more guarded and protective of my feelings. As I grew older, though, I got tougher and harder. I think I have always been sensitive to emotions, especially when I was younger. ![]() When people have fewer emotion words in their working vocabulary, they have a tendency to suppress or not manage their feelings well.
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