How are you expressing your feelings?

How are you expressing your feelings?

Feelings are a big part of who we are, how we see the world, and how the world sees us. But are we allowing ourselves to feel our feelings/emotions? How do we know what we are feeling? How do we allow ourselves to feel? 

There are many emotions/feelings that we can, and often do feel. At the same time, we only use and describe a handful of them each time. Why is that?

Growing up we were only taught the main ones; anger, sadness, happiness, fear, and bad. What would you say if I told you that out of those “main” ones live hundreds more. What if I told you that by exploring and allowing yourself to feel those emotions you could take better control over your life and how you express yourself?

Using tools such as the feelings wheel to help dig deeper into your emotions and find out the why behind them guides you to a bigger self awareness, understanding, and helps you decide what to do with that information. If you know the why, you can choose how to behave/what to think, and in turn live a healthier life. 

Allow yourself to cry, allow yourself to be frustrated, allow yourself to feel. Do NOT let those feelings sit unheard, unacknowledged, and unfelt. Express your emotions through healthy avenues such as writing it down, crying it out, talking through it, and/or working out/physical activities, just to name a few. 

You got this!

Day Espinal, LMHC, trauma specialist who also works with all types of mental health concerns from childhood to adulthood.