🧠 Emotional Intelligence 101 – Part 2: Naming and Recognizing Emotions

 

If you missed Part 1, click here What Are Emotions, and Why Do They Matter!

Welcome back to our series on building emotional intelligence! In our last post, we explored what emotions are and why they matter. Today, we’re diving into the skill of naming and recognizing emotions—a key step toward building emotional awareness.

Understanding and naming our emotions gives us the power to respond thoughtfully rather than react impulsively. Let’s take a closer look at why this matters, and how to get better at identifying what we’re feeling.

 

Why Naming Emotions Matters

When we can accurately label our emotions, it leads to several benefits:

  • Increased Self-Awareness: Naming emotions makes us more aware of our internal state and its impact on our thoughts and actions.
  • Enhanced Self-Control: Recognizing emotions allows us to pause and choose how to respond, instead of being controlled by feelings.
  • Improved Communication: When we know what we’re feeling, it’s easier to express ourselves clearly and connect with others.
  • Better Problem Solving: Accurately identifying emotions helps us understand what’s driving our reactions, making it easier to address the root cause.

By building a habit of naming our emotions, we gain insight into our patterns, making it easier to manage them effectively.

 

Commonly Confused Emotions and Why It Helps to Be Specific

Often, we use broad or vague terms like “angry” or “sad,” which don’t fully capture what we’re experiencing. Here are some commonly confused emotions, along with why getting specific matters:

  • Frustration vs. Anger: Frustration often arises from blocked goals or unmet expectations, while anger may be a response to perceived injustice. Knowing the difference helps us respond more appropriately.
  • Anxiety vs. Excitement: Both can cause physical arousal (e.g., racing heart), but anxiety is linked to fear, while excitement is tied to anticipation. Recognizing this can shift our mindset in challenging situations.
  • Disappointment vs. Sadness: Disappointment relates to unmet expectations, while sadness might stem from loss. Knowing this can help us focus on adjusting expectations or addressing grief.

 

Expanding Your Emotional Vocabulary

To become more precise in naming emotions, it helps to expand your emotional vocabulary. Here are some alternatives for common feelings:

  • Happy: content, grateful, cheerful, hopeful, enthusiastic
  • Sad: disappointed, lonely, discouraged, sorrowful, heartbroken
  • Angry: irritated, resentful, frustrated, defensive, hostile
  • Scared: anxious, worried, insecure, overwhelmed, vulnerable

The more specific we can be, the clearer our understanding becomes. When we know exactly what we’re feeling, it’s easier to understand why and take the right next steps.

 

Exercise: Using a Feelings Wheel to Identify Emotions

A Feelings Wheel is a powerful tool for practicing emotional identification. It breaks emotions into specific terms to help you get a more precise label for what you’re feeling. Here’s how to use it:

  1. Start with a Core Emotion: Begin with a general feeling, like “happy” or “angry.”
  1. Move Outward on the Wheel: Look at the related terms that branch out from the core emotion. For example, “angry” could branch into more specific feelings like “frustrated” or “resentful.”
  1. Reflect on Which Feels Right: Choose the term that feels most accurate and spend a moment reflecting on what might have caused it.

Tip: You can find a Feelings Wheel online by searching “Feelings Wheel.” Keep it on your phone or print it out to use throughout the day!

 

Weekly Reflection Exercise

For the next few days, try this simple exercise to build awareness of your emotions:

  1. Pause and Check-In: At three different points in the day (morning, afternoon, evening), pause and ask yourself, “What am I feeling right now?”
  1. Use the Feelings Wheel: Refer to the Feelings Wheel to help you find a specific term.
  1. Write It Down: Jot down your identified emotion and, if possible, a brief note on what triggered it.
  1. Reflect on Patterns: At the end of the week, review your notes to see if any patterns emerge. Are there emotions you experience more often? Are certain situations tied to certain emotions?

This exercise is all about building awareness, not judgment. The goal is simply to get curious about your emotions, which is the first step toward managing them effectively.

Looking forward to hearing how this exercise shapes your emotional awareness! Feel free to share any insights or questions in the comments. 🧠💬