Self-awareness part 1: Emotions

Why are emotions so important?

Your FEELINGS influence
Your THOUGHTS, which affect
Your BEHAVIOUR, which leads to 
Your overall LIFE experience

What are emotions?

• Emotions originally had a survival function - fear would move us out of the way of danger, love would help us protect family, etc.
• Emotions add depth to our lives; they motivate us to survive, love others and improve our lives. In this way, emotions add meaning to our lives.
• Emotions have a significant impact on the choices we make, and their subsequent outcomes. For example, if you feel despondent about upcoming exams, you won¡¯t bother to engage or study for them. If you feel that they are a challenge or feel motivated to work towards your future career, you will put in the effort to study and get help where needed.
• By knowing our emotions, we can have more influence over ourselves and our behaviour. If we aren¡¯t in touch with them, we may find ourselves doing things without understanding why. For example, we might find ourselves yelling at a loved one over small matters, when we are actually angry with someone else.

Where to start: Name it to tame it

Naming feelings in your head is the first step to knowing and regulating your emotions. Recent research shows that this skill is one of the most helpful strategies in promoting mental health, as it lays important groundwork and helps people to feel more comfortable with their own emotions.

Our brains have two hemispheres, which perform different functions in the way that we think. They have different roles:

• Left hemisphere - logic, language
• Right hemisphere - emotions, holistic view, artistic self-expression etc.

We can use the language of our left hemisphere to help calm down and regulate the emotions of the right hemisphere. This means that we can feel our emotions, but that we are not necessarily overwhelmed by them.  In your head, you might say to yourself ¡°I feel sad right now¡±. You don¡¯t need to say this aloud, but just silently to yourself. 

What am I feeling?

When it comes to naming emotions, you may find it tricky to know what you¡¯re feeling. A simple way to start is to see which of these four categories your emotions might fit into. These are basic, primary emotions:

• Mad (angry)
• Bad (guilty)
• Sad (upset, down)
• Glad (happy)

Does what you¡¯re feeling fit into one of these categories? This could give you a starting point to know more or less what you¡¯re feeling. 

These categories are just a guide. Not every emotion fits neatly into one of these, but it¡¯s a good starting point if you¡¯re not sure how to get going. There are, of course, many more emotions, some of which are complex. You may also feel a combination of emotions, such as feeling scared and excited before starting university.

Practice

It takes repeated practice to form links between the two hemispheres of your brain. By using the language of your left brain to regularly respond to your right brain emotion, you help to build neuronal connections between the two. Over time, this may mean that you are less likely to be overwhelmed by your emotions, benefitting your behaviour and interactions with others.

It may feel strange at first, so keep practicing. At first, you may find that you can only name an emotion after the event, but in time it will become easier to identify and manage your emotions in the moment.

Read up more about self-awareness in part 2.

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