Notice, Name, and Sit with Your Emotions: A Guide to Emotional Awareness

Feb 17

Emotions can be complex, overwhelming, and often difficult to navigate. In a world that values productivity and "moving on," we can easily neglect the importance of truly experiencing our feelings. One of the most empowering practices in emotional health is learning how to notice, name, and sit with your emotions. This simple yet transformative skill can help you better understand your emotional responses, build resilience, and foster a deeper connection with yourself.

In this blog, we’ll explore the powerful steps of noticing, naming, and sitting with your emotions, and how these practices can improve your emotional well-being and overall mental health.

Why Emotional Awareness Matters

Emotional awareness is the ability to recognize and understand your emotions in the present moment. It's a key component of emotional intelligence, which plays a major role in how we manage relationships, handle stress, and make decisions. Unfortunately, many people spend their lives pushing emotions away, fearing they’ll be overwhelmed by them. However, avoiding emotions can lead to a buildup of stress, anxiety, and even physical health issues.

The good news is that by practicing emotional awareness—through noticing, naming, and sitting with emotions—you can break free from this cycle and take back control of your emotional life.

Step 1: Notice Your Emotions

The first step in emotional awareness is simply noticing what you're feeling. This sounds basic, but in practice, many of us are disconnected from our emotional experiences. We might be so caught up in our thoughts, work, or daily tasks that we miss the subtle signs of our emotions until they build up and become overwhelming.

How to Start Noticing Your Emotions:

Pause and Reflect: Take moments throughout your day to pause and check in with yourself. Ask, "What am I feeling right now?" You might notice a sensation in your chest, tightness in your shoulders, or a fluttering in your stomach—each of these could be signals of an underlying emotion.
Observe Physical Sensations: Emotions often manifest physically before we consciously label them. A racing heart, shallow breath, or tension in the body can be early indicators of what you're feeling emotionally. Take note of these cues and try to pause for a moment to identify what's happening internally.
Keep a Journal: Journaling is an effective way to track your emotional experiences. Write down what you’re feeling during different moments of the day, even if the emotions seem minor or fleeting. This helps build a habit of self-awareness and encourages you to notice your emotions more frequently.

Benefits of Noticing Emotions:

Increases self-awareness and helps prevent emotional build-up.
Helps you avoid reactive behaviors (like snapping at someone because you're frustrated without realizing it).
Encourages you to become more mindful and present in your everyday life.

Step 2: Name Your Emotions

Once you've noticed your emotions, the next crucial step is to name them. While this might sound straightforward, many people struggle with this because they either lack the emotional vocabulary or feel uncomfortable labeling their emotions.

Naming your emotions helps you externalize them and create space between you and your feelings, reducing their intensity. It’s important to recognize that emotions are neither good nor bad—they just are. The more specific you can be with your emotional labels, the more power you give yourself to understand and manage your feelings.

How to Name Your Emotions:

Be Specific: Instead of simply saying, “I feel bad,” get more specific. Are you feeling sad, disappointed, frustrated, angry, or overwhelmed? The more precise you can be, the easier it will be to work through the emotion.
Use a Feelings Wheel: Many people find it helpful to refer to a "Feelings Wheel," which categorizes common emotions into primary feelings (like happiness, sadness, fear, etc.) and secondary emotions (like anxious, relieved, bitter, etc.). This tool can help you expand your emotional vocabulary.
Practice Self-Compassion: When naming your emotions, avoid judgment. For example, don’t say, “I shouldn't feel angry” or “I’m weak for feeling anxious.” Instead, say, “I’m feeling anxious right now” without attaching negative labels to the emotion.

Benefits of Naming Emotions:

Reduces emotional overwhelm by giving structure and clarity to what you’re feeling.
Increases emotional intelligence, which helps improve communication in relationships.
Makes it easier to process emotions and find healthy coping strategies.

Step 3: Sit with Your Emotions

This is perhaps the most challenging step—sitting with your emotions. In a world that values quick fixes, it's tempting to avoid emotions altogether by distracting ourselves with work, social media, or even food. However, when we avoid our feelings, they often get stronger and more difficult to manage.

Sitting with emotions means allowing yourself to experience them fully without rushing to change or escape them. This process helps you build emotional resilience and gives you the opportunity to reflect on the root causes of your emotions.

How to Sit with Your Emotions:

Allow Yourself to Feel: When you notice and name your emotions, let yourself feel them without judgment. If you're feeling sad, allow yourself to grieve. If you're angry, acknowledge that feeling and give yourself permission to experience it.
Breathe Through the Emotion: Deep breathing can help you stay present with your feelings. When emotions arise, take slow, deep breaths to help ground yourself in the moment. Try breathing in for a count of four, holding for four, and exhaling for a count of four.
Observe Without Acting: When you sit with your emotions, try to observe them as though you're an outsider looking in. Notice where you feel the emotion in your body, what thoughts accompany it, and how it shifts over time. This mindfulness practice can help you avoid reacting impulsively.
Create Space for Reflection: Give yourself permission to not immediately solve or "fix" the emotion. Sometimes, simply sitting with it and letting it pass is all that’s needed. Emotions are transient, and they often change or fade when we stop resisting them.

Benefits of Sitting with Emotions:

Helps you build emotional resilience by learning to cope with difficult feelings in a healthy way.
Reduces emotional reactivity and impulsiveness.
Leads to a deeper understanding of your emotional triggers, allowing for personal growth and healing.

Why This Practice Works

Noticing, naming, and sitting with emotions is a form of emotional regulation that strengthens your ability to manage stress, anxiety, and relationship challenges. Rather than pushing emotions away, this practice encourages acceptance and understanding. By acknowledging your emotions, you give yourself the space to process and release them, rather than holding onto them in unhealthy ways.

Emotional awareness is a vital skill that anyone can develop with practice. By noticing, naming, and sitting with your emotions, you can improve your emotional intelligence, reduce anxiety, and increase your capacity for emotional resilience. These simple but powerful steps allow you to connect more deeply with yourself, fostering healthier relationships and a more balanced life.

If you’re struggling with overwhelming emotions or find it difficult to sit with your feelings, reach out to Birdjoy Therapy for support. Therapy can provide a safe space to explore your emotions and develop healthier ways of coping. With time and patience, you can cultivate a more grounded, emotionally aware life.

Sabrina Anderson