Managing Emotions: Step One
You may think of emotions as good or bad: "happiness is good, and anger is bad." However, emotions are neither good nor bad; they are natural reactions to life. It is how a person deals with his or her emotions that affects mental and emotional health. From family, peer groups, and communities, people learn both positive and negative ways to express emotions. It is important to learn strategies to effectively communicate needs and emotions and learn healthy ways to express them.
Your next assignment for this module will be a discussion on managing emotions. Begin preparation for this graded assignment now by considering the emotions you experience each day. Choose two emotions, and make some notes on the following:
- How do you usually know when you are feeling these two emotions? What are your individual signs?
- When you feel an emotion, what is your initial reaction to it? How do your immediate thoughts and behavior change in response to your feelings?
- How do you usually respond to these two emotions? How do you express them, if at all? What do you do to express your anger, your fear, and your love?
Keep these notes for the upcoming discussion.
