Turn Confusion into Empowering Clarity
Let’s explore something absolutely vital for emotional growth:
We turn confusion into clarity the moment we learn to accurately identify and name our emotional sensations.
We are all humans; emotional beings. Emotions impact every aspect of our lives.
Everything that feels challenging is usually emotionally challenging.
Emotions are always relevant.
Pretty much everything we care about as humans comes down to how we feel:
An emotion you’re experiencing now
An emotion you experienced in the past
An emotion you imagine experiencing in the future
When we don’t have the language to identify with clarity what we’re feeling, we can feel out of control, confused and disempowered.
This is completely normal.
You’re not lacking intelligence at all, it’s simply that our brains need the opportunity to interpret the interior sensations we feel accurately.
This is a skill you learn through practice.
I used to think pretty much all I felt was anxiety. At work, as a parent, in relation to myself, socialising.
Once I learnt the skill of recognising my sensations with accuracy, I realised there was so much more going on!
My brain was busy producing all sorts of emotions! With this insight came the opportunity for skilled intervention.
The Neuroscience of Turning Confusion Into Clarity
Your emotions are sensations you feel in your body, created by your brain.
This means:
You already have everything you need to transform your emotional experience.
But here’s the challenge:
You’re normal if you’re trying to get through each day without paying much conscious attention to your emotional world.
Perhaps you’re not analysing, naming or engaging with your emotions. After all, no one taught us such skills and we’re just trying to get through as best we can!
Critically though, you can’t support yourself effectively if you don’t know what emotions are relevant.
Emotional accuracy brings your emotional world into conscious awareness. Essential for change.
We move from just experiencing to observing.
This detachment gives us clarity, perspective and an opportunity for influence.
It turns:
“I feel awful and I don’t know why,” into “I’m feeling pressured, worried and inadequate.”
Your Gentle Step Forward This Week
Practice naming the top three emotions you experience each day.
If you’re thinking, “I have no idea what I’m feeling,” that’s completely normal. This is a new skill.
To help, I’ve created a simple list of common emotions my clients experience on a PDF below.
Use it as a starting point.
Set a silent phone alarm once a day. When it goes off:
Read the list, identifying up to three emotions you’ve experienced that day.
When you’ve identified your top three, perhaps try this thought option for gentle reassurance:
“Learning to identify my emotions skillfully provides clarity and perspective. It’s the first step towards making change possible.”
Do this daily over the next week and you’ll start to see your emotional “now” with far more empowering clarity.
The PDF list of emotions below is intentionally short, the goal is to making such emotional engagement manageable.
However if you’d like a longer list that’s no problem, just email me (hello@coachingillumination.com) and I’ll send you one personally.
Wanting further help to experience the emotional change you deserve?
Stress, intensity and pressure may be the norm but they don’t have to be your norm.
You have incredible emotional potential.
If you’re curious about what emotional change you’re capable of, you’re welcome to book a free Discovery Call below.
It’s a kind, confidential conversation where we explore what’s possible for you.
No expectation or pressure from me, just insight and inspiration.