Let's talk about feelings
one of our favorite topic as therapists, right?
If you prefer to watch the video, click this image here:
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If you prefer to read, here’s what you need to know about how talking about your feelings will change your life:
MEANING
As therapists, we love talking about feelings because we know how meaningful and impactful they can be to changing your life.
Our emotions help us create meaning to our experiences.
Feelings are the interpretation of our emotional experience or response to a situation or event.
UNDERSTANDING
When we feel safe and secure and in control, we feel great, and we can get more done.
However, sometimes our feelings lead us astray, which is why it's important to be able to know what it is that you're feeling and then be able to talk about it with other people.
People can't know how you feel if you don't tell them.
When you leave it up to interpretation, people can assume incorrectly, and that can lead to lots of different misunderstandings and conflicts.
So, once you can notice what it is that you're feeling in your body, you can then name the emotion.
It can be really difficult to put words to our experience, and if you can't quite name the emotion just yet, even just being able to identify where it shows up, how intensely it's showing up is a huge step in the right direction.
Using a 0-10 scale is a good tool for communicating feelings that are difficult to describe.
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GUIDANCE
When we can talk about our feelings, it can also help us figure out if our feelings are guiding us in a helpful direction.
When we can talk about our feelings, then we can start to decide if the feeling is guiding us in a healthy and helpful direction, or if it’s trying to protect us to the point where it's holding us back in life.
PROTECTION
Anxiety is a super helpful and useful emotion because it helps protect us.
Anxiety says, "Hey, something's a little different here. You better wake up and pay attention." You don't want to ignore anxiety because it can alert us to potential harm and danger.
Being able to notice and talk about it lets other people in your vicinity know what it is that you're feeling and experiencing (especially when it becomes too intense). Plus it helps them understand and help you in that moment as well.
This works even better if you already know what works and doesn't work for you and you've talked about that ahead of time.
If you haven't talked about it ahead of time, that's okay. It is never too late to start talking about your feelings and your experience with others.
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CONNECTION
When you talk about your feelings, you can build understanding and deeper connections with people.
Feelings are kind of the shorthand exchange of explaining what your experience is to other people.
It's important to get it a little more clear and defined on how to talk about your feelings in a way that's understandable and in a way that people will want to hear about your feelings.
Tell me….
I hope that you found this information valuable and helpful and if you did, let me know in the comments over on my YouTube channel- you can click here to go to this video.
And please be sure to share this video because you never know who you could be helping in the process.
If you want to know more about how to talk to your parents, click this link to watch a great video playlist on this very important topic.
Want even more positive influences in your teen's life? Teen Girls Therapy Group is a weekly space where your teen girl can connect with others dealing with anxiety, depression, or low self-esteem. By talking and learning together, they learn to feel better about the relationships they have with themselves and others.
If you want to secure your teen's spot- schedule your complimentary 15-min parent phone screening by completing the contact form here.
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