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Emotional Awareness

Emotional Awareness

Before we can regulate our emotions (and our responses to them), we must first explore our ability to become aware of and identify our emotions. This often-overlooked skill is the foundation of emotion regulation. 

Just like one cannot even begin to solve a problem without first identifying what the problem is, we cannot hope to regulate our emotions until we have accurately identified what they are. This is a skill that people of all ages can practice and improve upon. Check out the video, tools, and activities below to learn more and exercise this important skill!

Video: 7 Things You May Not Know About Your Emotions (5:46)

Feelings Wheel

Dive Deeper:

Emotional Awareness - What It Is and Why You Need It
What is Emotional Awareness?

Call to Action: 

Engage your family (or just yourself!) in the activities below.

Family Activity (Elementary)

Emotional Awareness Activity (Adults, Teens, or children with help from an adult)

Engage yourself and/or your family members in this activity to exercise the emotional awareness muscles! Reflect upon or journal about the following prompts:

  • What words best describe how I’m feeling? (Refer to The Feelings Wheel)
  • What thoughts am I having about or in response to this emotion?
  • What physical sensations am I feeling in response to this emotion?
  • How intense is this emotion and how long does it last for?
  • What actions do I tend to take when I experience this emotion? How drastic are these actions?

Activity taken from PositivePsychology.com