Mindful Emotions: How to Become Aware of Your Feelings
Mindfulness is a practice that involves the purposeful and non-judgmental awareness of our thoughts and actions. In this article, you will learn how practicing mindfulness can bring many benefits, such as increasing self-awareness and reducing stress. Besides, it’s an excellent way to develop emotional intelligence.
What is self-awareness?
Self-awareness is the ability to understand your emotions and thoughts and have insight into your strengths, weaknesses, and how your personality impacts your behavior. Self-awareness is essential to developing emotional intelligence because it helps you understand your feelings so that you can recognize the feelings of others.
Become aware of your body
It can be easy to forget your physical sensations when you’re in the middle of an intense conversation or an anxiety-inducing situation. Taking a few minutes to focus on how your body feels can help you become more self-aware.
If you’re struggling to identify what you’re feeling, try labeling the sensations you’re experiencing in your body. You can practice mindfulness by focusing on each body part for one minute. Start with your toes, and work your way up to the top of your head.
Become aware of your thoughts
When practicing mindfulness, you’ll want to ask yourself, “Why am I feeling this way?” This simple question can help you become more aware of the thoughts triggering certain emotions.
You can practice being more self-aware of your thoughts by focusing on them instead of letting them run wild. If a negative thought enters your mind, don’t push it aside.
Become aware of your actions
If you’re in a situation where you feel an emotion creeping up, you can use mindfulness to become more aware of your actions. You might notice that your language becomes more aggressive when you’re angry or that you close off and withdraw from others when you feel afraid. However, when you’re aware of what you’re doing, it can help you manage your emotions better.
Other ways to develop self-awareness
- Journaling. If you’re struggling with a negative emotion and want to better understand it, writing about it can make it easier to identify your feelings.
- Meditation. When you meditate, you focus all of your attention on your breathing. Since there’s nothing else for your mind to wander to, it has no choice but to slow down and become more self-aware.
- Be mindful of your surroundings. Try to be fully present in the moment when you're out and about. Be mindful of your surroundings, and notice the little things you might have missed.
Conclusion
Mindfulness is a great way to develop emotional intelligence. When you practice mindfulness, you learn to recognize your emotions and respond to them more healthily. This allows you to build better relationships with friends and loved ones and easily navigate social situations.
