Feel It, Own It, Change It.
“Emotional intelligence is the ability to use emotion to enhance your thoughts and actions.”
When it comes to health and wellness, most people think that fitness and nutrition first.
But your mental and emotional health is just as important (cough, if not more, cough)—especially if you struggle with things like emotional eating, managing stress, lack of workout motivation, etc. because our feelings and emotions drive everyyyyyything.
Sometimes they can be big and intense, and other times they’re quiet, buried away, and harder to recognize.
You’re probably familiar with the 6 primary emotions:
1 - Happiness
2 - Sadness
3 - Anger
4 - Fear
5 - Surprise
6 - Disgust
What you might not know is that these emotions merely serve as the building blocks for more complex emotional experiences.
In reality we have over 100 different emotional experiences!
…and the better you understand your emotions, the better you will understand and control your actions and decisions.
Curious where you stand? Let’s find out:
On a scale of 1-5, how in tune are you with your emotions?
01. Disconnected – You don’t pay attention to and often feel out of touch with your feelings.
02. Aware, but Distant – You notice your feelings occasionally but don’t explore them deeply and/or get overwhelmed.
03. Recognizing Patterns – You see emotional patterns but struggle to fully understand or manage them.
04. Growing Awareness – You reflect on your emotions more often than not and are comfortable navigating them.
05. Emotionally In Tune – You have a deep understanding of your emotions and manage them with clarity and ease.
Something I practice with my clients who struggle with identifying their feelings, is mood monitoring (and I go in-depth in my Emotional Eating workshop).
It’s valuable to reflect on your feelings to understand if something specific contributes to your mood or if a pattern is playing out. You may be able to make a few simple changes in your life to do more of what helps you feel good and less of what doesn’t.
As I always say, there are no “good” or “bad” feelings, they are all neutral and if you learn how to use them correctly, they can guide you towards living the healthiest and happiest life.
Want to try it out for yourself?
I’ll give you a little activity I do with some of my clients:
Print (or save on your phone) the Feelings Wheel (see button below).
The next time you feel a big emotion or are feeling triggered to do (or not do) something:
Take a few breaths and notice how your body feels. Are you feeling tension/tightness anywhere?
Then check in with your emotions. Do you feel like you want to cry, hide, yell?
Scan the wheel and see if you can find a word that best describes how you feel. It helps to start in the middle with the basic emotions and work your way out to the more complex emotions.
Once you know exactly what you’re feeling try communicating it either to yourself or someone in your support system.
Now, you can take action. The more you understand what you’re feeling, the more you’ll understand what to do to help yourself feel your best.
