What Are You Feeling (And Why)?
The concept of emotional wellness is very closely tied to mental wellness. Mental wellness relates to how we interpret the world around us, while emotional wellness focuses on how we express our emotions about those interpretations and experiences.
A big part of caring for our emotional wellness is being able–and willing–to accurately identify what we are feeling in the present moment. After all, it’s hard to express something when we don’t even really know what it is we need or want to say! But staying present with our emotions can be a challenge for a lot of reasons. First, we may struggle with calming our “monkey mind” down long enough to really notice what we are feeling. And second, sitting with our emotions can often be uncomfortable, especially when we are feeling things like anger, grief, or fear. Our natural tendency is to run from discomfort, not welcome it in like a friend; however, our emotions have a lot to teach us if we’re willing to listen!
The good news is, the more we practice tuning into our feelings, the more natural it becomes. And once we can more accurately identify what it is that we’re feeling about a situation, we’ll be able to more easily give ourselves what we need in that moment–whether that’s coming up with a creative solution to address the problem, calling a friend or loved one, or just taking a walk around the block to get some fresh air.
The feelings wheel is a common visual used to help people get started with identifying their emotions. I recently came across this updated version of the wheel that I love even more, though. This visual helps identify not only what you’re feeling but what may be driving those emotions. Knowing our emotional patterns–where we tend to go when our feelings are hurt or when we’re facing uncertainty–can help us better manage our reactions and bolster our emotional wellness.
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