Labeling Emotions
Stop what you are doing now, and answer this question. How do you feel right now?
This is probably a lot harder to answer than you may think. Maybe that is because right now, nothing is truly happening. But try answering the same question when you've just found out that you may be laid off work. Or that your best friend is in the hospital. Or your parent has a car accident. Or you failed an important test. What are the feelings associated with those situations? Why is it important to label how we feel? Why do we even bother with putting a word to our emotions? Well, interestingly, labeling our emotions is actually a lot more important than many of us (myself included!) once thought. This study is a great example of how labeling emotions can have positive effects. In this study, participants who were scared of spiders were asked to either label an emotion (ex. I am anxious about being near a spider. I feel scared that it will hurt ...