Increase your Awareness
Emotions can sneak up on you. One second you’re fine, the next, you feel like your blood is boiling. Have you ever been paralyzed by fear? Overcome with sadness? Seen “red” and become so enraged you could punch a wall? I’m guessing you said yes. You experienced a rise in your emotions and it was probably triggered by some sort of event. Something happened and you became aware of what that something made you feel. Does this happen everyday? Maybe not to that extreme, but you experience some form of emotion on a daily basis. You might even experience multiple emotions, most people do.
Think about it:
- How did you feel about getting up this morning?
- What happened when you got to work and saw that there was fresh coffee?
- What crossed your mind when you realized you had to work through lunch?
- How was your commute back home?
- If you had to sum up your day in your word, what would it be?
Most people don’t go through their day announcing every emotion or feeling. Usually, we assess the day as a whole. Nothing wrong with that, and however was the entire day bad? Did nothing happen that day that made you smile?
Increasing your awareness will go a long way in determining your true emotional state. Extended days of negative emotions could be an indication of something serious. Extreme mood swings or pervasive negative thoughts might be something to explore with a professional. The other side of that would be making an effort to spend more time doing things, and surrounded by people that make you feel positive things.
It’s important to remember that no emotion is right or wrong. All you need to do at this stage is the following: When _______________ , I felt ________________.
At this stage, simply review your day and make note of the emotions you felt as things unfolded.
We’ll use this information in the next stage; ASSESSMENT.