How high is your emotional self-awareness? Humans are emotional creatures, so it can be hard to navigate life if you don’t have a clear understanding of your emotions.
Emotional self-awareness is your ability to recognize your feelings, differentiate between them, know why you are feeling these feelings and recognize the impact of your feelings on those around you.
A common theme coming up in my coaching practice these past few months is confusion about emotions. Specifically, not understanding the triggers or situations that bring on specific emotions. If you have a solid understanding of what causes your emotions, it is much easier to regulate your behavior and to control the impact your emotions have on those around you.
Do you allow yourself to feel? Many of us are socialized to hide or suppress our emotions, especially in the workplace. Bottled up emotion can make you sick and needs to be processed before it can be released.
Limited Emotional Vocabulary
Our emotional vocabulary is often limited to “sad, mad, glad”, yet we lose out on the nuances of the vast array of human emotions by this restriction. For example, mad could be “frustrated, disappointed, irritated, furious, annoyed, peeved, worried etc.”
The Role of Emotions in Problem-Solving
Effective problem-solving requires you to understand your emotions. Emotions are useful data that need to be considered before choosing a course of action. Some solutions may seem effective but don’t feel right to you on an emotional level. Its also important for you to understand how your emotions impact your decision-making process.
One of my clients, who is taking on her first leadership role, scored high in problem-solving but low in emotional self-awareness on the EQi-2.0 assessment. In our coaching session, she came up with the action plan to start journaling about her emotions to understand her emotions better.
She is now finding the links between the different emotions she is experiencing and the situations or triggers that bring on these emotions. This is helping her problem-solving ability at work and in her personal life.
Tips to Boost your Emotional Self-Awareness
- Start an Emotion Diagnosis by recording the strongest emotions you experience and noting the thoughts and physical sensations that accompany them.
- Recognize that every heightened emotion has lighter levels. Pay close attention to small shifts in this emotion the next time it arises.
- When it intensifies or weakens, write down your description of this new level of emotion and its triggers.
- What caused the change and what does this tell you?
Interested in growing your Emotional Intelligence? Reach out to me to book an EQ assessment and coaching session.
Download the Mood Meter app to accurately track your emotions and triggers throughout the day
