The Feelings Wheel
Do You Know How to Identify Your Emotions?
Feeling emotions is a tricky business for us humans. Some, during times of stress or agitation may say they feel fine and don’t feel any type of emotional discomfort. Others might be so overwhelmed with how they are feeling inside that they can’t find the words or express what they are experiencing. Or one can be in touch with emotions but have not yet learned the words that accurately describe all the nuances of what they are feeling.
Becoming aware of your emotions and the connection they have to your body and mind can lead you towards the path of emotional wellness. Being open to the signals your body is sending you that you need to make some space for some cagey emotions that are bubbling beneath is healthier for your overall well-being than stuffing them deep down or disconnecting from them.
Turns out, there is a bunch of research on this that psychiatrist and author Dr. Dan Siegel calls ‘name it to tame it’, which is a fun way to describe the way the left and right hemisphere respond to emotions being labeled and in turn calm our whole system down.
A research study conducted by UCLA professor of psychology, Matthew D. Lieberman, explains the foundation of ‘name it to tame it’. The study found that when we feel angry we have increased activity in the part of the brain called the amygdala. Since the amygdala is responsible for
detecting fear, activation of the amygdala sets off a series of responses within the autonomic nervous system to protect us from danger. Lieberman and team found a noted a decreased response in the amygdala when the feeling of anger was labeled and talked about by the participant, which in turn increased activity in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain involved in processing emotions).
According to Lieberman:
When you put feelings into words, you're activating this prefrontal region and seeing a reduced response in the amygdala. In the same way you hit the brake when you're driving when you see a yellow light -- when you put feelings into words you seem to be hitting the brakes on your emotional responses.