What are you feeling right now as you read this? Curious, tired, hopeful, fed up? Every one of those feelings is telling you something.
Emotions are part of being human. They give us information about what is happening to us and help us decide how to react. Anger can tell us something is unfair. Sadness can tell us we have lost something that mattered. Fear can tell us to be careful.
Naming what you feel
As babies we simply react, by crying or laughing. As we grow up, we learn to notice what we feel and put it into words. This is called emotional awareness, and anyone can get better at it with practice.
Why it helps
- It helps you work out what you need, and what you do not.
- It makes it easier to explain how you feel to the people around you.
- It helps you get through difficult feelings rather than getting stuck in them.
Try this
Once a day, stop and ask yourself: what am I feeling, and why? Write it down if you like. The Battle Plan has an emotional check in every Monday for exactly this.
Living on artificial nutrition brings a lot of big feelings. None of them are wrong. Noticing them is the first step to looking after them.