FLOURISH - Issue #2
Naming Our Emotions
Hi all,
I hope this newsletter finds you well, and that our previous newsletter issue was able to help some of you learn to be present and to get in touch with your emotions. In this issue, I hope to focus on recognizing and naming the emotions we are feeling. Oftentimes identifying the emotion we are feeling and calling it out by name can help us to better process and work through that emotion.
Try this:
Take some time to slow down and be present, if you are able to do so in nature that would be best. As you focus on your breathing you may become aware of some of the emotions you have been feeling recently. Don’t be afraid of these emotions, seek them out. Use the Emotion Chart below to identify and describe the emotion(s) you are feeling. What is the dominant, overarching emotion? Use multiple words if needed.
By naming our emotions it allows us to recognize them and feel them completely. It can be more comfortable to dismiss our emotions or to mask them with others because we are overwhelmed, embarrassed or just simply busy. For example, a fit of rage and anger can be hiding an underlying emotion like sadness, disappointment or neglect. Recognizing the true emotion can allow ourselves to feel what already is, so that we are then able to process and move forward. It can be difficult to face emotions we deem undesirable so we may choose to brush these emotions off, to deny we ever felt them. It is in these cases where I am reminded of the words of Eugene Gendlin —
“... movement and change happen when a person is given the peace to allow the bodily sense of a trouble to be, to be felt, and to move to its own next step.”
It is important to truly feel our emotions so that our body and minds can process and respond in its own way. This will hopefully help you to be able to face and recognize the emotions you are feeling, thereby allowing you to process and work through that emotion. I hope this newsletter encourages you to recognize your emotions and to take ownership of them, so that you can begin to process the feelings you might be neglecting.
Warm regards,
Florence
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