Give your feeling a name

Emotions are complex states and influence processes in our body, our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. The world around us, the situations we are in, and our own thoughts evoke feelings all the time. And there is a myriad of them, some of them motivate us, some help us to make decisions, some warn us about danger, some guide us to acts of kindness. However, some feelings put us down, slow us down, and make us avoid things.

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Essentially, feelings are good, but sometimes they can be overwhelming and become quite problematic and troublesome. For example, when they are persistent and returning, when they are intense and out of proportion, when they fluctuate rapidly when they prevent us from living our lives so we aren’t able to leave our house or get motivated.

When we want to change the way we feel, we have to ask ourselves where these feelings come from, what they do with our body and physical sensations, in what situations we feel like this or when we feel differently, what thoughts can evoke these feelings. To be able to cope with them, we have to learn to recognize them, name them, and reduce their intensity. And to feel better.