The Hidden Power of Naming Your Emotions: Why Therapists Ask "How Does That Feel?"

Emotions are like background programs running on your mental computer—when acknowledged, they free up resources, but when ignored, they demand more attention and drain your capacity to focus.

• Understanding the five universal emotions identified by psychologist Paul Ekman: joy, fear, sadness, anger, and disgust
• Each emotion serves an evolutionary purpose: fear protects from harm, joy indicates safety, sadness shows something matters, anger responds to threats, disgust warns of potential poison
• Naming your feelings without judgment helps process emotional data and organize it effectively
• Emotions are a mix of bodily sensations and thoughts that can calm down once acknowledged
• Personal example of how naming feelings of irritation, sadness and fear brought mental lightness despite unchanged circumstances
• The paradox: focusing on feelings temporarily allows us to eventually focus better on other tasks
• Watch "Inside Out" for a family-friendly introduction to universal emotions

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Opening Music by Jeremiah Alves from Pixabay

Closing Music by Aleksandr Karabanov from Pixabay

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