S1 E29. Naming your emotions can be very helpful.

Naming your emotions makes it easier to process them. My sadness is called Tinkerbell. When I’m sad, I say, now now, Tinkerbell, your mascara’s running down your face. Tell you what, let’s get you something waterproof from Amazon ok? My anger is called Agnes. When she’s angry, I tell her it’s ok, Agnes, go on, be angry… then I watch her punch holes in the wall. I named my anxiety Alex. When anxious Alex makes my tummy queasy and my hands cold, I tell him, Alex, you’re 6 foot 4, you have a 50 inch chest and your biceps are 22 inches. Why are you whimpering? When I talk to them whether it’s Pouty Penelope, Tinkerbell, or Frustrated Freddie I ask them why they feel the way they feel. I give them a chance to express themselves in a safe and non-judgmental space. Naming your emotions can be very helpful. You don’t have to go as far as I have in naming my emotions. You can just call sadness plain old sadness, or anger anger. That’s good enough to sit with them, ask them what’s wrong, why are they feeling that way. Naming our emotions gives us the proper language to process them. Rather than groping in the dark not being able to identify exactly what it is that we’re feeling. And identifying them is important because we get more clarity, and we get to understand ourselves better. I also found that apart from making it fun, giving my emotions human names and personalities somehow takes me out of the picture. I’m detached from the negative emotions. I’m able to look at them objectively, like I’m another person. That gives me perspective, and I take it less personally. Website Instagram YouTube Facebook