‫Learning how to recognize your emotions and their effect on your life is extremely important for controlling
‫emotional reactions.
‫Most people pay very little attention to how they really feel, so they often end up struggling with
‫overwhelming emotions.
‫Very often people struggling with this problem recognize the tidal wave of distressing emotions that
‫overcomes them, such as sadness, anger, shame, guilt and so on.
‫But by the time they recognize this, it is way too late to do anything about it.
‫In order to control overwhelming emotional reactions, it is vital to slow down the emotional process
‫so that it can be examined.
‫Only after it's examined, a person can make healthier and more rational decisions, this exercise will
‫help you begin this process by examining an emotional situation that has already happened in the past.
‫What you have to keep in mind is that you have to be as honest with yourself as possible at this point.
‫So let's look at the six step process that will help you recognize your emotions.
‫Step number one.
‫What happened?
‫This is your opportunity to describe the situation that led to your emotions.
‫Number two, why do you think this situation happened?
‫This is an opportunity for you to identify the potential causes of your situation.
‫This is a very important step because the meaning that you give to the event will very often determine
‫what your emotional reaction is to that event.
‫Step number three, how did the situation make you feel emotionally and physically?
‫Try to identify both primary and secondary emotions if you can.
‫Learning how to identify your emotions might take some time, but it is definitely worth the effort.
‫Do your best to identify how you're feeling physically.
‫Keep in mind that emotions and physical sensations, especially muscle tension, are very strongly related.
‫Step number four.
‫What did you want to do as a result of how you felt?
‫This question is very important because it identifies your urges.
‫Often when a person is overwhelmed with emotions, he or she has the urge to say or do something that
‫is very drastic, painful or even extremely dangerous.
‫However, the person doesn't always do these things, sometimes the just are just impulses.
‫Compare what you want to do with what you actually do.
‫If you can control some urges, you can probably control others just to.
‫So step number five, what did you do and say this is where you identify what you actually did as a
‫result of your emotions.
‫And step number six.
‫How did your emotions and actions affect you later here, you can identify the longer term consequences
‫of what you felt and did.