The Function of Emotions
The first language our bodies ever knew was that of physical sensations and emotions. As babies we were attuned to our every need. We knew when we needed food, needing sleep, and how we needed comfort (whether it is physical touch, connection...etc). As we get older, the environment and impactful events tend to make us more disconnected from our internal body language. Emotions are just that, the language of the body. The better we learn to re-attune to this language, our own language, the more we know what our body is trying to tell us, how to best take care of ourselves, and how to relate better to others.
Each emotion you’ve ever felt exists to serve a purpose. Emotions are internal signals that provide us with information. An important reason to listen to each emotion is to evaluate whether or not it is giving you accurate information. However, if we do not know what each emotion means, we will not be able to get the right information. Knowing what each emotion tells the body is the first step to gaining better emotion awareness. After getting used to knowing what the definition of emotion is, you can figure out if the emotion is reliable to the situation. Depending on if this emotion is reliable to the situation or not, it will give you the ability to figure out what course of action you want to take to take care of your needs.
Emotional awareness; the ability to harness emotions and apply them to tasks like thinking and problem solving; and the ability to manage emotions, which includes regulating your own emotions and connecting and understanding the emotions of others.
Attached is a document I created to help you start regain awareness over your authentic raw emotion and what it means. I created this for all my patients, and this is a personal exploration of these definitions... so take it with a grain of salt!
