Why Do I FEEL This Way
Aug 18, 2021Our emotions are the center of who we are as a human being. They determine how we act or react. Emotions create all of the results we have in our lives and often our identity is based on them. We classify people as happy, anxious, depressed, overwhelmed or cranky. Emotions are integral to our everyday life, yet many of us don’t know how to recognize them.
As a Catholic Life Coach, my first objective is to help my clients create an awareness of their emotions. I give them tools that allow them to recognize and name how they are feeling. Most of the time my clients start out by describing their feelings or justifying why they feel a certain way. It is difficult for them to identify their emotions with one word, but identification is crucial.
Many times I hear people say they feel bad, sad, tired or happy. These are superficial feelings. Usually when we dig deeper we can uncover feelings such as angry, bitter, shameful, discouraged. Identifying these feelings allows better insight into what we are experiencing.
The other day I woke up full of energy ready to tackle the day. About two hours later I felt overwhelmed and anxious. I asked myself, what changed. What happened to all of the energy and motivation I was feeling a short time before?
My emotions changed when my thoughts changed.
The thoughts that I started the day with began to change as life happened. I started off thinking that I had plenty of time to run errands, do laundry, write a blog and create posts on Facebook.
My errands took much longer than expected because traffic was bad and the line at Target was backed up. Instead of having plenty of time, I began to worry about getting everything done. My thoughts changed to “I have too much to do and not enough time.” As I was writing my blog I thought, “I should have done this sooner” and “I’m so stressed I can’t think of anything to write.” These thoughts created the feeling of being overwhelmed.
Here are three ways to EXPLORE your EMOTIONS.
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Stop, take a deep breath and give your feeling
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a ONE word name.
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Ask yourself, “why do I feel this way.” You will identify the thought creating the feeling as you answer this question.
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Question your thoughts. Is this thought really true? Do I like the way I feel when I think this thought? Can I choose a different thought?
Growing up we are taught that our emotions are the result of what happens to us in our lives, but the truth is that we get to decide what we think about EVERYTHING!
When we choose our thoughts, we choose our feelings.
If you would like to dive deeper into your emotional life join me in Educators created for Catholic teachers. You will get more insight into why you feel the way you do, how emotions impact your body, how to process and allow positive and negative emotions and what happens when you avoid certain emotions. The workshop will give you tools to think and feel however you desire in and out of the classroom!
