How to Focus Emotional Self Awareness to Serve You?

Today’s inspiration is derived from a compelling Ted Talk from Guy Winch about practising emotional first aid. The talk touches upon some key factors about emotional self awareness. The most impactful point for me is to stop and question the way we think, react and sometimes even conditioned by the society around us unconsciously.

The difference I would like to highlight is between the thoughts of unconscious and conscious behaviour when it comes to these emotional thought processes. Most often these thoughts or shunned, but do we stop enough to question

• What influences me to think or talk like this?
  How would I feel if someone else says this to me?
  Most importantly – are my responses conditioning the right thought processes in me?

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Breaking down Emotional Self Awareness

Before I delve into the details, I would ask this question – what is this emotional self awareness. I know what the dictionary says – but the question is – what does it mean to you?

• Do you stop and wonder why you react a certain way when someone or something upsets you?
• What is the cause of anger?
• And have you experienced moments where you would come back and think – Gosh, I wish I had not done that!

In essence, everything that is being raked in the above is the emotional responses to certain occurrences in our life isn’t it?

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Why do you react a certain way?

I don’t want to impose being a historian to try and understand the source of all our emotions. This article is merely about emotional self awareness- essentially to know a little more about ourselves and better.

This is not an effort to try and change the way you think or react. It is just about knowing ourselves better and more deeply. In other words – I am only trying to question the curiosity within you which can stop and think – why do I do what I do?

There may be facets of mindfulness which can throw more light on it. However, it is more about the influences you have on you.

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How to eliminate the emotional noise?

We are in a very noisy world where lots is being thrown at us on a daily basis. More so in the era of social media where information is more extensive. It is astonishing to see the amount of hate messages out there.

Sometimes, I do wonder – do people stop and think – what am I trying to make the other person feel?

Or – is it a mere opportunity to shed their frustration on someone else.

But yes, in either cases – I would classify this as a noise. Our emotional space is a very sacred one – it is almost like protecting a garden from pests. The noise around keeps pushing you towards thinking something which might not help you at all.

The thoughts in this article keep centring around the emotional self awareness and avoiding the corresponding distractions in its way.

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Do your emotions process help you?

Ultimately, this is the most important question isn’t it. We are all complex beings with beautiful thoughts, emotions, feeling and expressions.

• We have picked up these expressions of emotions from the culture, environment, people we are with and modelled ourselves around these emotions.
• Have you stopped to question – hang on a minute – I don’t like this type of emotional response. I don’t want to be angry or hurt any more!
• I want to feel differently, think differently and focus on better things than let these behaviours boss me around?

I do recognise there is a host of questions which might not have all answers. The point is not to have all the answers or even be perfect, it is about knowing where we are, how we are shaped.

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Can you change them to serve you?

Ultimately the emotional self awareness serves a purpose, that’s quite simply you. Your emotions, physical appearance, thought processes – everything is a facet of you.

If they are not serving your needs, then perhaps there is something wrong in the approach. Maybe it is time to cast away those emotions, behaviours and thoughts.

It might be a simple action of telling your friend how that nickname makes you feel and blocking that unconscious annoyance from your life. Or it maybe a hard one of taking a deep look within and finding the emotionally hurtful thought processes for an occurrence and coming up with a strategy for it.

End of the day, I would like to leave with one common theme – it is your life, your emotions and personal space. It deserves all the care and attention in the world. This starts with a little bit of emotional self awareness to take you on a journey which makes sense to you.

Here is the Ted Talk which has inspired today’s thought processes