Naming Your Emotions - A Guide To Emotional Awareness

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Naming your emotions is a skill, not something you’re supposed to “just know” how to do. This video walks you through the Naming Your Emotions handout and shows you, step by step, how to start understanding what you actually feel instead of just saying “stressed,” “overwhelmed,” or “fine.”

• Why naming emotions matters for your mental health, relationships, and decision-making

• A simple emotion model that explains how feelings build from a triggering event to thoughts, body sensations, and actions

• How to use a feelings wheel and emotion word lists so you’re not stuck with the same three words for everything

• The difference between broad labels (“sad,” “angry,” “anxious”) and more precise emotions like “embarrassed,” “lonely,” “resentful,” or “proud”

• How to complete the Observing & Describing Emotions worksheet so you can track real moments from your day and start noticing patterns

This video is especially helpful if you:

• Struggle to say what you’re feeling in the moment

• Grew up in a family where emotions were minimized, ignored, or “too much”

• Tend to shut down, explode, or numb out when feelings get big

• Are working on emotional regulation, DBT/CBT skills, or trauma recovery in therapy

You’ll see how to use the worksheet to record:

• What happened (the prompting event)

• What you told yourself it meant (your interpretations)

• What you felt in your body (racing heart, tight chest, heaviness, numbness, etc.)

• What emotion words fit best

• How strong the feeling was and what you did next

You don’t need to do this perfectly. Even filling it out once or twice a week can increase your self-awareness and give us powerful material to work with in session. Over time, you’ll start to catch emotions earlier and respond with more choice and less autopilot.

How To Name Your Emotions

Download this booklet and learn how to name your emotions. Click on the image below!

Use this video alongside your Naming Your Emotions handout as a quick guide and reminder. Watch it once to get oriented, and come back to it anytime you feel stuck, confused, or disconnected from what’s going on inside you.